2023-08-05 05:36:00
On leaving Mons station, under construction since the dawn of time, arrangements have been made to prevent the area from looking like any construction site. Opposite, a few regulars occupy the terraces for a coffee or a few beers. At the Ducal, a small neighborhood café, customers chat and inevitably come to talk regarding security around the station. “Usually it’s a pretty quiet place,” explains the waitress. We keep up to date via a WhatsApp group of local residents and regulars, and we all share the same observation: since this shot fired near the station during a settling of accounts in mid-July, we have bad luck. Lots of weird things happen that we didn’t know before,” insists the lady.
What are customers worried regarding? “We see that the police are present, so it’s fine. But hey, is it possible to have total peace? I don’t know, but we hope so. In any case, they are there, it should probably deter the thugs”.
Deterrent presence
Outside, five police officers patrol and ensure compliance with the mayor’s decree, in force since July 31. In particular, it imposes a ban on gatherings of more than five people. The police control and are present in case of trouble.
Nothing special to report. Except maybe this mattress and this abandoned garbage that bothers passers-by. “The dirt in the streets weighs heavily on citizens’ feeling of insecurity. Around the station, there is also a lot of begging, which accentuates the problem. We also watch over that,” explain the police while the City’s cleanliness services clean the area in question.
Suddenly, the radio crackles. There are reports of a possible assault near the station. The patrol rushes there, under the watchful eye of Commissioner Joachim Somma. The individual is quickly located, arrested then searched, before being released. It was only a slight argument between two onlookers who calmed down when they saw the police arriving.
Police patrol in the Mons train station area ©Jean Luc Flemal
For the rest, it seems particularly calm. Is such a police presence necessary, one wonders? “Despite appearances, there are sometimes more tense situations that require our presence, assures Commissioner Somma. And then the police also work proactively, not just reactively.”
To fight once morest which criminal phenomena? Everything that pollutes large urban entities: small incivilities, thefts, big deals. The drugs circulating here? Mainly cannabis, but also ketamine, very popular with people living on the street, assure the police. Mons residents can count on the “PUMAS” patrols (Montoises Urban Support and Security Patrols).
Police patrol in the Mons train station area ©Jean Luc Flemal
Brussels urban strips
If, at present, there are no major collaborations between the other police areas of the country, Joachim Somma remains attentive to the criminal phenomena coming from other cities, mainly from Brussels.
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”There are, quite regularly, Brussels urban gangs prowling here. We detected the problem here a year ago, explains the commissioner. It’s an imported phenomenon, there are no bands of this type in Mons and we want to avoid it. For this, we summon the parents when it comes to minors, and it works since we never see these young people on the street once more. It takes a lot of time, but it pays off. The police cannot work alone, if we do not involve the citizens concerned, it will be complicated.”
Is Commissioner Somma confident regarding the results? “We are taking stock every day and a big evaluation is planned for the end of August. We will see, at that time, if it will be necessary to perpetuate this decree or if it will be necessary to do something else. In any case, we remain present for the citizens”.
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