Interview with authorities from the city of Nice, France: implementation of technological solutions for the protection of public spaces

The city of Nice, France has become a European pioneer in the implementation of technological solutions for the protection of its public spaces. Urban authorities have successfully adopted hi-tech protection without hampering the charm and livability of the Côte d’Azur capital city.  Nice’s Urban Supervisory Control Centre is one of the largest videoprotection complexes in Europe serving multiple purposes: from issuing traffic fines and managing traffic flows to protection from natural disasters, crime and terrorist attacks. Police patrols are geolocated at all times, public buildings are equipped with alarms connected to the Supervisory Control Centre and citizens are engaged through a neighbourhood watch alert system.

We talk to Sébastien Viano, Director of the European Affairs and External Funding of the Metropole Nice Côte d’Azur and coordinator of the EU Urban Agenda Partnership on Security in Public Spaces.

Copyright: Freesurf @ stock.adobe.com

Q: What technological solutions do you apply in the city of Nice for ensuring the protection of public spaces?

A: The city of Nice has always used state-of-the-art tools for the protection of its population and particularly of its public spaces. This notion of "state-of-the-art" technology must, however, be compatible with the legislation in force, legislation which often lags behind technological progress.

In a sustainable way, the city of Nice is now deploying a video protection system equipped with HD, 360°, thermal cameras equipped with software for the detection of, for example, suspicious packages, people groupings or intrusions. The city of Nice is also equipped with LAPI devices to control access to certain reserved areas. More recently, the city of Nice has deployed call points positioned on the public highway allowing all citizens to instantly and geolocally report a problem they witness. More specifically, the city of Nice has deployed an "alert button" system available to all municipal buildings, schools, daycare centers, theaters, as well as all businesses and professionals who have requested it: when triggered by its owner, it allows the user to connect directly to the supervision center, to geolocate the user and to control the city's camera network towards the place where the event is taking place.

The city of Nice has also set up a connected network of "vigilant neighbours" channels over the last ten years to provide citizens with information on matters relating to public safety. More specifically, municipal police officers are equipped with a pedestrian camera system whose purpose is to capture the images and sound of an intervention, with various purposes of prevention, training or even criminal prosecution. Finally, the city of Nice has a public transport network that is fully connected to the municipal police command centre in real time, via a video protection system but also via interoperable systems.

On a more ad hoc basis, the city of Nice regularly implements experiments. For example, in 2019 it was the first European city to deploy a facial recognition experiment on the public highway, which was very conclusive but could not be renewed or extended due to overly restrictive national legislation. More recently, it has attempted to deploy a citizen security application system aimed at putting the citizen at the heart of security co-production, a system that has not been approved by the CNIL (the national data protection authority).

Q: What are the main benefits you have noted from the implementation of technological solutions for the protection of public spaces?

A: The use of the above-mentioned equipment has had a huge impact on the security of public spaces, making them ever safer. Street delinquency has decreased by 40% in the last 10 years. The clearance rate has increased by 400%. The actions of pickpockets have dropped by 50% in the public transport networks. The delinquency related to door robberies has been totally eradicated. Technology has come to reinforce human action: these results are supported by the implementation of a global security policy in which technology has become an essential link.

Q: How do you decide what technological solutions to adopt? What are the considerations you take into account during the decision-making process?

A: The equipment deployed by the city of Nice on a permanent basis has always been the subject of reflection based on expertise in the fields of public safety, IT security, guaranteed data protection and, above all, the existence of a legal framework enabling their implementation and deployment. Experiments aim to assess the impact of technologies on the operational, technical and data protection levels, but are only very rarely allowed in France in view of the legislation in force.

Q: Did the implementation of technological solutions require changes in the organization of your work?

A: The implementation of technological solutions has obviously changed the organisation of work in many aspects (technical, operational, etc.) The co-production of security (State, city, private actors, citizens) is at the heart of daily security for global security. An evolution of employment frameworks is also to be noted where specific skills are required, particularly for video protection operators (specific training).

Q: How do you ensure the coordination, cooperation and communication among the various security actors and stakeholders?

A: The system of governance has evolved: at a time when the territories have the technologies, the State relies on them to implement global security policies. The territories have become key players in the co-production of security and the implementation of "BIG DATA" and its sharing makes it possible to contribute more and more each day.

Q: Could you describe some concrete problems you have faced in the implementation of technological solutions for the protection of public spaces?

A: For a technology to be used effectively for security purposes, it must respond favourably to several aspects: technical - it must work; operational - it must be useful for the purpose; and legal - the data collected must be protected.

On the technical level, in the early days of video protection, the quality of image flows or the absence of 360° cameras could represent an obstacle to the proper protection of public spaces: the pitfall of not being able to view certain scenes was in fact recurrent. At the operational level, when implementing a system, the beginnings are sometimes complex because of the novelty of the tool and the adaptation of working methods to it.

For example, the deployment of a videoprotection network in public transport had to be understood by the agents of the command centre or in the field and their coordination was the key to the success of the system. From the legal point of view, it is important that the system is able to meet the legal framework in force, particularly in terms of data protection, storage and processing. For example, French law allows videoprotection streams to be kept for a maximum period of one month when, for reasons of storage space in order to guarantee data security, the city of Nice decided to keep them for ten days.

Q: Do you think exchange of data among urban authorities in the EU is feasible? Would it be beneficial? What challenges have to be addressed in order to allow for such cooperation?

A: The exchange of data between European territories appears not only beneficial but also essential to meet the challenges of everyday security issues. At a time when threats are constantly increasing and when the free movement of people and goods within the European territory is a fundamental freedom for European Union citizens, the security of the territory is at stake. How can it be imagined that border territories where trade is possible at any time cannot have the same knowledge of risks or the same ability to protect themselves against them? There are many challenges, but they can only really be met when the territories are recognised by Europe as key players in security policies and as privileged interlocutors of the European Union.