Responding to a parliamentary question, interior security minister Etienne Schneider (LSAP) explained that this autumn CCTV cameras will be installed in parts of rue Glesener and rue Adophe Fischer.

In 2019, cameras will be fitted in place de Strasbourg, rue 1900, rue du Commerce, rue du Fort Wedell, rue Wilson and rue des Etats-Unis. Outside of the Gare district, the suspended cycle path under Pont Adolphe and some parts of Bonnevoie will also be covered by CCTV.

Schneider was responding to a parliamentary question from Claudine Konsbruck (CSV), who said that the measure had been warmly welcomed by a large majority of people attending an information meeting in the Gare on 31 May 2018. Luxembourg first introduced CCTV coverage just over ten years again when it developed the Visupol programme in 2007. Some 74 cameras were installed as part of a test phase, which was expanded in 2009.

CCTV and crime

Responding to a parliamentary question in 20016, Schneider stressed the importance of CCTV footage in criminal cases. He said that 2,504 crimes had been reported in areas covered by CCTV from 2007 to 2016. The footage helped law enforcers to identify 1,223 suspects.

Expanding CCTV coverage in the capital was among the priorities of the new DP/CSV coalition voted in during the 2017 communal elections. However, it is not supported by everyone. Luxembourg’s Pirate Party called the Visupol “inefficient” and “counter productive”, saying they only serve to push crime to residential areas.

Party leader Sven Clement told Delano: “Visupol should never have seen the light of day. We now need to cut our losses and stop the system that’s wasting taxpayer money and making residential areas less secure as quickly as possible. We demand more police presence on the ground and more patrolling officers and better opening hours of police stations closer to the citizens.”