Contractors

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This page is an (incomplete) list of the companies that profit from providing  security guards and surveillance technologies, building walls and demolishing homes, manufacturing tear gas or stun grenades, supplying buses and planes to carry people to detention or deportation, and more. They are paid by the French or British governments, Eurotunnel or the Port of Calais, or other key decision-makers in the Calais border system.

Security guards

Walls, fences, and construction

Border technology

Deportation and detention

Police support services

Police weapons

Security Guards

Eamus Cork Solutions (ECS)

Freight Searching, Detention and ‘Escorting’ in the Calais, Dunkirk & Boulogne Ports

President & Founder: Patrick Guerbette

Address: Route de l’Europe, 59279 Loon-Plage, France

The Dunkirk-based company Eamus Cork Solutions was created in 2004 by a former Calais policeman. ECS was awarded a 3 year £7.1 million contract for port security in 2011, which was later extended for a further two years.¹ The firm does a part of the work of the UK Border Force in “freight searching detention & escorting services at Dunkirk and Calais in the British Control Zones.”² They also work with the port in Boulougne, according to their website.³ They work in connection with the dog-handling company Wagtail.

They have sometimes been criticized in the media as incompetent because their workers apparently fell asleep on the job and allowed people to escape from detention centres.⁴ They have also gotten media attention for failing to pay their workers for overtime hours.⁵ The job ECS carry out has been massively expanded and put up for re-tender by the Home Office for £80 million. The winner of the new contract will be announced in December 2016.

Tascor

Holding Facilities and Detainee Transport in the UK, Calais & Coquelles

Address: Victory Way, Hounslow TW5 9NS, United Kingdom

Tascor currently holds the contract for transporting and “escorting” detainees and running “short term holding facilities” throughout the whole UK. This includes working in Calais and Coquelles.

They are known for brutality towards detainees, including a 2013 case in which they violently assaulted Marius Betondi, an asylum-seeker from Cameroon, while attempting to deport him.⁶

Tascor is part of the massive outsourcing corporation Capita. It was previously renamed Reliance Secure Task Management. The name was changed when Capita bought the company in 2012,, in a ‘rebranding’ process after Reliance had been repeatedly found to abuse and mistreat detainees.⁷ Reliance had previously taken over the contact from G4S in April 2011, after Jimmy Mubenga was killed during his deportation by G4S.⁸

Tascor’s UK-wide contract is due to expire and is currently being re-tendered by the Home Office.⁹ The Calais part of the job will in any case become part of the new £80 million contract for privatised border security which is also now out for tender.

Biro Sécurité

Biometric Technology and Security Guards in the Container Camp / Jules Ferry Centre

CEO: Axel Guillaume Biro

Address: 251 Avenue Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, 62100 Calais

This company supplied the biometric technology for the container camp and has provided security services for the (la Vie Active-run) Jules Ferry Centre and jungle ‘buffer zone’ since March 2015 (30 security guards and dog handlers).¹⁰ Biro is doing particularly well out of the ‘migrant crisis’ in the region, as it is also providing ‘secure parking’ for lorries near the motorway, and further afield secures the Saint-Laurent rest stop at Steenvoorde, Belgium, which has also been the site of other migrant ‘jungles’.¹¹

Biro is active primarily in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region and the surrounding area and has also won various other security contracts from the major of Calais not related to the border. They provide both security guards and electronic surveillance equipment.¹²

ATMG

Security on the Container Camp Construction Site

CEO: Bardadi Beddiaf

Address: Rue Roger Salengro / Route De Oignies Espace Tertiaire Bata / 62710 Courrières

This company was reported to have provided security on the container camp construction site by Cette Semaine. This company often provides site security for Eiffage, Bouygues, etc.

Mondial Protection

Port and Rail Freight Security

Address: Mondial Protection, 23 rue Buffon, 92500 Rueil Malmaison, France

In 2013, Mondial Protection was awarded nearly €2 million for ‘guard services’ provided to the Calais port.¹³ They also previously provided security for rail freight between Calais and Frethun for Réseau ferré de France (RFF). That contract expired in 2014, in part because there seemed to be unclarity whether RFF, Eurotunnel or the state was responsible for the area they were securing, and that area is now policed by Gendarmes and CCTV cameras. In 2015, a local news article reported that they had lost the market on rail freight surveillance, were experiencing financial problems, and workers were taking them to court for not paying their wages for 5 months.¹⁴

Walls, Fences, and Construction

Vinci: Sogea and Eurovia

Evictions, Wall Construction, and Just About Everything Else…

See the full-length profile on Vinci here

CEO: Xavier Huillard

Main Office Address: 1 cours Ferdinand de Lesseps 92851 Rueil-Malmaison Cedex France

Vinci is active across the globe. To find the location closest to you, see:

vinci.com/vinci.nsf/en/locations/pages/index.htm

Vinci is a massive French and international construction and outsourcing company, best known in France for making mega-profits from government concessions to run over half of the country’s motorway system. It has played a number of roles in Calais to date.

Three of the companies initially involved in building and owning the Eurotunnel are now part of Vinci.

In January 2016, a Vinci subsidiary, Sogea, was in charge of the demolition of the “South zone” of the jungle in January 2016.¹⁵

In September/October 2016, work began on the “great wall of Calais”, a £2 million 4 metre high wall to block off the jungle from the motorway. The contractor on this project was Eurovia Vinci, which specialises in roads and other transport infrastructure, as well as quarrying, asphalt production, and other business lines whose main common point is ecological devastation.¹⁶

Vinci were assigned this contract by ‘Operating Company of Detroit Ports’ (SPD), the public-private partnership which runs the Port of Calais and is undertaking a major port expansion project (called Calais Port 2015). Vinci is also one of the construction companies involved in the port expansion alongside competitors Bouygues, Spie Batignolles and Jan de Nul.¹⁷

Vinci is also behind the Notre Dame de Landes airport scheme, a public/private partnership “mega project” that is being bitterly resisted by the local ZAD (Zone A Defendre) movement. The attempted eviction of the ZAD occupation is, coincidentally or not, also expected to take place imminently.¹⁸

Elsewhere, in Russia, Vinci has been involved in the tollroad project that threatens miles of the historic Khimki forest, and has been the subject of bribery and corruption allegations.¹⁹ In the UK, Vinci was one of the major building contractors revealed to be involved in blacklisting trade union workers.²⁰

For much more on Vinci see the full-length profile here

Jackson’s Fencing

2015 Fencing

CEO: Peter Jackson

General Manager of French Division: Frederic Aubert of ‘Jacksons Clotures’

Address: H S Jackson & Son (Fencing) Ltd, Stowting Common, Ashford, Kent, TN25 6BN, UK

Tel.: + 44 (0) 1233 750393

Jackson‘s Fencing reports on its website that, as of February 2016, it had installed a total of 9.6km of fencing and 41 gates on the Eurotunnel site (an article from April gives an updated figure of 13 km). The website also reports that a second company was also contracted for additional work, however we have been unable to locate the contract referred to in public databases.²¹ About the ‘Securi-Mesh’ fencing used, Jackson‘s states: “The fencing and gates specified for the project were based on the proven ‘358’ wire mesh panel system, a versatile design with welds at each intersection for strength and small apertures to eliminate foot and finger holds and prevent objects being passed through its fabric. It also provides resistance to cutting by conventional hand tools and is employed extensively in higher security applications where it is supported with detection and surveillance technologies.”

Jackson‘s Fencing has also created fencing used around the Dunkirk Harbour.²²

According to its website, Jackson’s seems to be a small to medium-sized ‘family business’ involved in the design, manufacture and installation of timber and steel fencing, gates, environmental noise barriers, bollards, automation and access control systems. One news article claimed that the company has representatives in Russia and the Gulf states, although no contracts in these places are publicized on their website.²³ Most of the other contracts seem to be smaller jobs like building fences around schools or company buildings.

Zaun Ltd.

2014 NATO Fencing

Founders and Owners: Alastair Henman and Paul Painter

Address: Steel Drive, Wolverhampton WV10 9ED, United Kingdom

Zaun created the controversial 13km ‘Ring of Steel’ fence as part of the security measures for the NATO summit. In total, security for the summit cost nearly £60 million. Portrayed as “vast overkill” by politicians and protesters alike, the fence and additional security measures were supposed to defend the summit from demonstrators, of which there were finally a total of only 500-2,000.²⁴

After the summit, the fence was given to Calais to surround the port, where protests took place against the ‘mur de la honte’ (wall of shame).²⁵ The fence was blown over by the wind, twice.²⁶

According to its website: “Zaun’s products are manufactured in strategically located, purpose built factories in the UK. We also have key regional offices in France and Dubai that enable us to serve our customers across continental Europe and the Middle East.”²⁷

According to the site Professional Security, “Zaun also provided the security fencing in March 2014 at the Nuclear Security Summit in The Hague and last year at the influential meeting of world leaders and the world’s commercial, political and financial powers at the Bilderberg conference at The Grove in Watford. In 2012 across the UK, Zaun installed 20 miles of permanent and temporary fencing to secure the London Olympics including VIP emergency gates at the Olympic Stadium.”²⁸

The Home Office, along with the Olympic Delivery Authority, the Police Service of Northern Ireland, the Greater Manchester Police, and the Dutch National Police are listed on their site as some of their ‘key customers’.²⁹

Groupe CW (Clôtures Michel Willoquaux)

Container Camp Fences 2015

Address: 7/21 Route Nationale / 59152, Tressin, France

The Willoquaux family: Michel (Chairman of the Board of Directors), Christophe (Managing Director), Stéphane (Deputy Managing Director), Andrée (Vice President)

According to Cette Semaine, Groupe CW was responsible for fencing at the Container Camp site opened in 2015.

Logistic Solutions

Containers for the Container Camp

Address: Launay des Moulins, 35390 Grand-Fougeray (Ille-et-Vilaine), France.

Logistics Solutions supplied the containers used in the container camp in Calais. On their site they refer to their construction somewhat cynically as a ‘life camp’ and state there are 125 containers, most of which should house 12 people in bunk beds, 11 of which are ‘family containers’ and 3 of which are ‘conviviality containers’. ³⁰

According to Cette Semaine, “This small to medium sized company is an old friend of the police and military, as it already worked with Sodexo Defense Services to supply containers to Mururoa (French-colonised Polynesia, and site of decades of French nuclear testing) in a 30m euro contract. Logistic Solutions also supplied the French Defence Ministry with containers for a NATO event in Poland in November 2013, and includes the Egyptian military amongst its customers.”

Border Technology

L3 Communications Ltd.

X-Ray Scanning Equipment

CEO: Michael T. Strianese

UK Address: Astro House, Brants Bridge, Bracknell, Berkshire, RG12 9BG, United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0) 1344 477900

According to a notice posted on the UK Contracts Finder website, the Border Force uses a range of x-ray scanning equipment in order to carry out its work at the border, including “Freight Pallet Scanners, Baggage Scanners – parcels/small cargo, Baggage Scanners mounted in a van, Baggage Scanners mounted on a Baggage Belt”.³¹ These were originally supplied by L3 Communications and Rapiscan Systems, and L3 won another contract in April 2016 to carry out maintenance work on them. At least in theory, these x-ray systems are supposed to only be used on cargo and not on trucks where people might be hiding because of the health risks they pose, so PMMWI (Passive Millimeter-Wave Imaging), heartbeat detectors and CO2 measuring systems are used for this instead.³² L3 also provides scanning and other security equipment to the Manchester and Liverpool airports.³³

The equipment is supplied by the UK division of L3 Communications, which is a massive corporation created in the US.³⁴ L3 was previously among the top 10 US Government contractors, though it had declined to 15th place by 2015, after receiving ‘only’ nearly $2 billion in contracts from the US Government that year.³⁵ It has received contracts connected to the US-Mexico border and has profited heavily from the US invasions of both Iraq and Afghanistan, among other places.

Roke Manor Research / Chemring Group

PMMWI (Passive Millimeter-Wave Imaging) and Vehicle Scanning

Managing Director: David Cole

Address: Old Salisbury Ln, Romsey SO51 0ZN, United Kingdom

In a document titled “Securing the UK’s borders”, Roke Manor Research claims they were approached by the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) around 2002 in response to increasing migration to develop the PandoraTM lorry scanning system that is used in Calais.³⁶

Some technical information on how PMMWI works:

• “This system is used solely for searching soft-sided vehicles. The PMMWI consists of a computer system housed in a vehicle and a reflector. The vehicle is mobile, however the reflector is stationary. Due to the set up in Calais, the vehicles remain in the same place.

• At peak times, soft-sided vehicles are directed through the PMMWI. This piece of kit is beneficial because the vehicles do not need to stop, they can pass through at a speed of 5 KMH. This increases the number of vehicles that can be searched in a certain time frame, enabling a backlog of vehicles to be controlled quickly.

• The equipment uses natural radiation which is reflected through the vehicle to the receiver. This information is then converted to produce an image of the inside of the vehicle to the computer. The image produced is a black and white cross section of the entire vehicle. This image is then interpreted by a trained member of staff. Natural radiation cannot pass through metals, which is why this form of detection equipment is not suitable for hard-sided vehicles

• The quality of the image is dependent on the load of the vehicle. If the vehicle’s load is solid, the image will only portray the outline of the load. If there are vertical pockets within the load, this will be shown in varying shades if grey in the image of the vehicle”. ³⁷

According to a contract published on the TED database, “Border Force search of vehicles operations at the juxtaposed ports in northern France currently includes the use of passive millimetre wave imaging (PMMWI) technology on moving soft sided freight vehicles to check for the presence of persons illegally stowed within trailers. A total of five (5) PMMWI systems are currently deployed; two (2) systems at Calais, two (2) system at Coquelles and one (1) system is also deployed to the port of Zeebrugge in Belgium.”³⁸ The Home Office is currently seeking to upgrade the PMMWI systems now in use and, according to the notice, it organized an event with PMMWI manufacturers in April 2016 to discuss future expansions.

Roke Manor Systems is part of the Chemring Group, a global defense company. In March 2014, Chemring Technology Solutions publicized another of their products, VehicleScan, as a potential solution for scanning the bottom of lorries.³⁹ It’s unclear whether or not this proposal was taken up by the UK Home Office.

Thales

Organising Port Security and, Possibly, Producing Eurotunnel Drones

CEO: Patrice Caine

UK Address: Hydehurst Ln, Crawley, West Sussex RH10, CRAWLEY, UK

Further addresses of Thales can be found here: https://www.thalesgroup.com/en/group/address-book

Port

On its website, Thales reports that “To ensure the security of people and goods – and to combat illegal immigration – the port [of Calais] commissioned Thales to supply a surveillance and access control system.”⁴⁰

According to one sales manager involved: “The aim was to secure the zone, in other words, to know who was in it… But you must remember that the zone covers 85 hectares!”

“The project included installing equipment to control access, such as revolving doors for pedestrians and badge readers for personnel authorised to enter the port zone. 50 IP (Internet Protocol) cameras monitor the 8,000-metre long fence, the single public entry point to the site and various crucial locations – because it is not only the perimeter that needs to be monitored. “A port comprises a number of vital infrastructure elements,” continues Mr. Kanatchian, “such as oil storage tanks, bulk carriers, a gas depot – there are many areas that need to be protected.”

The report goes on to state that: “All the images and data from sensors are fed back to the monitoring station and displayed on a multi-screen array. Thales’ comprehensive experience in integrating complex systems enabled it to bring together the various components of the solution in only three months.”

The page mentions the Calais Port 2015 expansion, seeming to imply Thales’ continued involvement in the project, but doesn’t immediately make clear what sorts of expansions of the current ‘access control system’ are planned by Thales, if any.

Drones

It has not been publicly announced who produced the two military drones that surveil the Eurotunnel site, however a visual comparison of Thales’ Spycopter and the Eurotunnel drones suggests they might be the same.

The first picture is of the Spycopter from Thales’ website, the second is a picture of the Eurotunnel drones:

The Spycopter is a military grade Unmanned Aerial System (UAS). It has been reported that the two drones in Calais are carrying thermal cameras which are intended to ‘complement’ the other 500 security cameras already installed on the ground.⁴¹

At the UK-French Summit in March 2016, at which additional funding was announced for Calais border security, another part of the summit was dedicated to expanding drone programs globally. Thales, as a participant in the feasibility studies leading up to this announcement, was one of the likely beneficiaries of this announced £1.54 billion in funding for drones.⁴²

Beyond Calais, Thales is also one of the top-earning companies in the border industry.

The publication ‘Border Wars’ identifies Thales as a main player in the border industry and gives a rundown of some of the border related projects they have been involved in:

Thales claims to have delivered “[m]ore than 50 turnkey systems or subsystems in service

worldwide related to homeland security and border surveillance”. Its business report in 2011 mentioned a strong growth in revenues from the ‘border protection business’.

• “Thales has deployed a complete, integrated system for border security at the Eastern Latvian border, combining command and control software with optronics, sensors and a communication network.

• In 2015 it won a contract to supply the Spanish Guardia Civil with two mobile thermal units integrated into 4×4 vehicles for border surveillance. […]

• In November 2015, several media outlets reported rumours that Thales is building a wall on the border with Libya for the Tunisian government, though the company declined to comment.[…]

• In 2014 the dictatorial government of Turkmenistan issued a tender for a satellite-based monitoring system for its whole border with Afghanistan. Thales was one of the companies that responded, but it wasn’t disclosed which company won the contract.

• Thales works with Aerovisión, a Spanish company, on the international marketing of its Fulmar UAV, operated for border surveillance in the Malacca Straits, and on developing applications for it.

• In January 2012 it gave a real flight demonstration of the Fulmar drone for Frontex.

• Thales’ radar is installed on many ships around the world, some of which are no doubt used for border patrols.

• Thales also produces electronic ID-management systems. In 2013, as a subcontractor for Oberthur Technologies (France), it supplied Uzbekistan with a border control system, consisting of “411 biometric data acquisition stations at locations throughout Uzbekistan and at its embassies around the world” and a centralised system that monitors passport applications and manages passport issuance. France purchased a “biometric enrolment and data transmission system”, while Morocco and Kenya are clients for Thales-produced identity cards.

• Under a £3.8 million contract with the UK Home Office Thales provided a public key infrastructure shared service system for the encryption of biometric and biographic data for Biometric Residence Permit (BRP) cards for non-EU foreigners.”⁴³

FLIR Systems

Thermal Cameras

CEO: Andrew C. Teich

Address: 25 Esquire Rd, North Billerica, MA 01862, US

On its website, FLIR Systems reports that there are two SR-50 thermal imaging cameras in use in Calais (see map). They give “a clear image of the situation in the darkest of nights, in all weather conditions… they are mounted on a pole so that they can easily overlook an entire area… One of the specifications for the thermal imaging cameras during the demonstration was that they needed to be able to see the head and shoulders of a person floating in the water at a distance of just over 400 metres.”⁴⁴ This statement seems to be quite old, from 2007, and it’s not clear whether this company has produced more equipment in use in Calais in the meantime.

Other Contracts of Interest:

• Five-year firm-fixed price contract with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)⁴⁵

• Produced cameras that have been used by FBI to monitor protests, for example following protests surrounding Freddie Gray’s death⁴⁶

• FLIR has increasingly produced thermal imaging systems used for drones and military operations like those in Iraq and Afghanistan. T-2000 FLIRs are mentioned repeatedly in Iraq Wikileaks documents.⁴⁷ FLIR also seems to produce the cameras used in, among other things, Apache helicopters in Afghanistan.

Smiths Detection

X-Ray Technology

CEO: Andrew Reynolds Smith

Address: Smiths Group plc, 4th Floor, 11-12 St James’s Square, London, SW1Y 4LB, UK

In a contract award notice published on the TED database, Smiths Detection is announced as having been awarded over €3 million for x-ray and CT scanner technology for use on the Eurotunnel site.⁴⁸ Smiths Detection is a British multinational specializing in the design and manufacture of sensors to detect and identify explosives, weapons, chemical agents, biohazards, radioactive material, narcotics, etc.

AMG Systems

CCTV Technology for Eurotunnel

Managing Director: Alan Hayes

Address: 3 The Omega Centre, Stratton Business Park, Biggleswade SG18 8QB, United Kingdom

In a 2007 extension of the Eurotunnel project: “With both money and prestige at stake, AMG was awarded the contract from communication system contractor, Optilan, for the CCTV solution that would ensure the best possible surveillance network suitable for this high profile, critical project”

Clearview Communications

Eurotunnel CCTV

CEO: Paul Main

Address: 33 Robjohns Rd, Chelmsford CM1 3AG, United Kingdom

Clearview was first contracted to install CCTV on the UK Eurotunnel site, including a ‘perimeter intrusion detection system’ that transmits electric pulses along a sensor line attached to the fence. “When an intrusion attempt is detected it creates an alarm signal that can alert the main control room and automatically focus a camera to the point of detection.”⁴⁹

The company was then also hired to upgrade the existing 340 camera analogue system on the French Eurotunnel site.⁵⁰

Clearview claims to have provided ‘custody security systems’ to hundreds of police stations around the UK, including Essex Police.⁵¹

It also markets its services to data centres and offers ‘explosion-proof cameras’ specially aimed at the oil and gas industry, with clients including British Gas, E.ON and BP.⁵²

Rapiscan Systems Ltd. / OSI Systems

X-Ray Technology

CEO (of OSI Systems): Deepak Chopra

UK Address: X Ray House, 8 Bonehurst Rd, Salfords, Redhill RH1 5GG, UK

Rapiscan Systems is a US privately held company that specializes in walk-through metal detectors, and x-ray machines for airport luggage and cargo screening. It is listed in the UK government’s contractsfinder database as one of the companies which provided the x-ray equipment used in Calais.⁵³ OSI Systems is the parent company of Rapiscan Systems.

Scan-X Security Ltd

X-Ray Technology

Managing Director: Rob Wallader

Address: Unit 1, Westgate Trading Estate Westgate Aldridge WS9 8EX

In February 2016, Scan-X received a £500,000 contract to maintain existing x-ray scanning systems originally manufactured by L3 Communications and Rapiscan Systems for the UK Home Office.⁵⁴ Scan-X produces a variety of x-ray scanning equipment used in airports and at borders, as well as heartbeat monitoring equipment (we are not aware of its equipment being used in Calais, however).

Chess Dynamics Ltd

Day/Night Vision Systems for UKBF Boats

Managing Director and Founder: Graham Beall

Address: Quadrant House, North Heath Business Park, North Heath Lane, Horsham,

West Sussex, RH12 5QE, United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0)1403 249 888

Fax: +44 (0)1403 249 555

In November 2015, Chess Dynamics was awarded a contract of £1 million to provide five Day/Night Vision Systems to the UK Border Force’s fleet of five fast patrol boats (“Cutters”) “in order to identify images in daylight, twilight and night time conditions for surveillance and evidential purposes”.⁵⁵

If the Daily Mail is to be trusted, “Chess Dynamics’ naval vision and tracking devices are used on ships belonging to the British, French, Thai and Omani fleets and the privately-held, venture capital-backed firm’s customers include BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin and Thales”.⁵⁶ It is currently seeking to expand into the market for enemy drone-downing technology

Sorhea

Infrared barriers along the port fence

Address: 1 rue du Dauphiné, 69120 Vaulx-en-Velin, France

The black poles placed between the fences near the Calais port are in fact infrared barriers that form “a real immaterial wall of detection” (SOLARIS description) that sends signals to a control centre whenever someone is detected. Sorhea confirms the barriers have been used in Calais on its website. The company specializes in such detection systems and states on its site that its products have been used in military bases, detention centres, buildings classified as “defence secret”, industrial sites in the aerospace and armaments sector, banks, large oil facilities and ‘VIP residences’, among other places.

Wagtail

UK Border Force Detection Dogs

Managing Director: Collin Singer

Address: Mostyn Hall, Mostyn Estate, Holywell, Flintshire CH8 9HN

Tel: +44(0)1745 561166

On its website, Wagtail UK claims to be “the ONLY private UK Company that provides Body Detection Dogs (to detect illegal immigrants) for the UK Border Force”⁵⁷

According to an article on the company, “Wagtail have been working with the UK Border Force since 2008 providing staff and body detection dogs at Calais, Coquelles and Dunkirk, searching freight vehicles to ensure that the UK’s border security is maintained.”⁵⁸ In 2014, it received another £9 million contract to continue providing the UKBF with services until 2020.⁵⁹

DIY Lorry Driver Security Devices

Lorry drivers can be charged a £2,000 fine for each person found hiding in their vehicle. In 2014, there were £4.2 million fines on hauliers.⁶⁰ This law pits drivers and migrants against each other and reduces the possibilities for solidarity from lorry drivers. It has also effectively externalized part of the task of border security to lorry drivers, which has led to an increasing trend towards drivers using more advanced security technology in addition to just visually checking their vehicles for passengers.

SmartWitness

Video, GPS location and Analysis Software

CEO: Paul Singh

Address: Unit 3, Valley Point, Beddington Farm Road,

Croydon, CR0 4WP, United Kingdom

Tel. +44 (0) 844 947 1000

SmartWitness provides a range of camera products aimed at individual and commercial drivers. The SVC1080-LCA and KP1S commercial dashboard cameras are used to record ‘incidents’, and store both video footage as well as other information such as the vehicle location, and the impact force (in case of an accident).⁶¹ It was reported that SmartWitness’ sales increased by 20% in 2015. Sales Director Mark Berry commented:

“With our 360-degree cameras, drivers can see the whole way round their HGV and are alerted immediately on the video screens in their cabs when stowaways are trying to break-in. Drivers receive a text message if there is a suspected break-in so they can take immediate preventative action.”⁶²

VisionTrack

Video, GPS location and Analysis Software

Address: 45 Westerham Road, Bessels Green, Kent TN13 2QB, UK

VisionTrack basically offers similar products to Smartwitness, cameras and other monitoring tools for lorry drivers.⁶³

Deportation and Detention

Twin Jet

Renting Private Jets for Deportation

CEO: Olivier Manaus

Address: 1070 rue du lieutenant, Parayre BP 30370, 13799 AIX EN PROVENCE, France

Telephone: (+33) 892 707 737

In October 2015. Streetpress reported that the private jet used by the Police Aux Frontières to internally deport migrants from the Coquelles detention center throughout France was a Beech 1900, produced by US aircraft manufacturer Beechraft.⁶⁴ Beechcraft was previously a division of the defense giant Raytheon but since 2014 has been part of Textron Aviation.

The aircraft was reported to be owned by Twin Jet, a small French regional airline, which was renting it to the PAF to the tune of €1.5 million a year.⁶⁵ The salaries of the PAF officers involved and the price of fuel used are not included in this figure. 10 PAF and 2 pilots were employed each week to carry out these operations.

“Police take the migrants on the tarmac. Then the officers of the PAF Bourget take over until destination. And there other cops take care of the transfer to the detention center.”

Streetpress estimated that the costs of these operations, which had no other point than to gradually wear down migrants through repeated internal expulsions, could have averaged around €23,000 per day, despite the fact that a maximum of 5 migrants were sent on each flight. This was due to the fact that the plane only had 19 seats and that 2 PAF officers were required to ‘accompany’ each migrant.

When not used for making transfers to detention centers, the Beech 1900 was used for ‘extended border operations’, according to one PAF cop.

Internal deportations have since been expanded and this small jet is no longer used. Instead, a larger 78-seat plane from the state’s emergency services is now being used.⁶⁶

 

Transport, Hotels

Buzzlines Travel

Transport of UK Border Officers:

CEO: Lynn Woods

Address: Buzzlines Travel Centre, 3 Defiant Close, Terlingham Forum, Hawkinge, Folkestone, Kent, CT18 7SU, UK

In 2013, Buzzlines Travel Limited received a contract to provide daily transport for UK Border Force officers between Folkestone and Calais.⁶⁷ This contract was renewed in 2016 until 2019.⁶⁸ Buzzlines is a rental bus company in the UK that also offers bus holiday tours. According to its website, “The Company is also a preferred supplier to the Ministry of Defence for troop movements often commissioned at short notice, where we regularly demonstrate our ability to move decisively to gather the resources to support multiple vehicle taskings.”⁶⁹

IBIS (Accor S.A.)

Hotel of Choice for the CRS

CEO: Sébastien Bazin

Address: AccorHotels 2, rue de la Mare-Neuve, 91021 Evry Cedex, France

Calais Address: Place de Cantorbery, 62231 Coquelles, France

The Coquelles IBIS seems to be the hotel of choice for the CRS, and the parking lot can always be observed to be full of CRS vans. Reviews of the hotel on TripAdvisor seem to frequently contain the complaint “overrun with CRS”.⁷⁰

AccorHotels owns not only the IBIS chain but also a variety of other hotel chains, including Hotel F1, Mercure, Novotel, and Sofitel, among others.

Police Weapons

This section contains general information on the companies manufacturing the weapons used by the CRS and Gendarmes throughout France. Since this is not specific to Calais and has been written about elsewhere it has covered less comprehensively here, but for further technical information you can take a look at a related document published on the le ZAD website mentioned here in the footnote.⁷¹ Many of these weapons have been observed in Calais but we would have to do additional research to confirm whether all of these are currently in use in Calais.

SAE Alsetex

http://www.alsetex.fr/

Teargas, teargas launchers

Etienne Lacroix

http://www.etienne-lacroix.com/

Teargas

Nobel Sport (or: Nobel Securités)

Teargas

http://www.nobelsport.fr/

SAPL

http://www.sapl-sas.com/fr/index/index/

GRENADE DE DESENCERCLEMENT

Verney-Carron

http://www.verney-carron.com/

• Site du Flashball

• FLASH-BALL « SUPER PRO »

http://www.flash-ball.com

Brügger & Thomet

http://www.bt-ag.ch/

Taser France

http://fr.taser.com/

Marck

http://www.marck.fr/catalogueMarckVersionFrancaise/index.html#62

Combined Systems, Inc.

CEO: Don Smith

Address: 388 Kinsman Road, Jamestown, PA 16134, United States

Combined Systems⁷² is the parent company of Penn Arms, which produces the “Penn Arms PGL-65” launcher used by the CRS.⁷³ The gun is classified as “less lethal” and can fire 6 shots in 4 seconds. It is only authorized to charge the gun with teargas or smoke cartridges, but technically rubber bullets could also be loaded. While CRS had access to this gun since 2013, it was limited to the “special means sections” of each company. Since 2016 it has been expanded in use.

GEIM

Address: Parc Technologique de Soye, 15 rue Galilée, 56270 Ploemeur, France

GEIM is a French company specialized in providing products and service in the areas of ‘security’ and ‘defense’. Among other things, they produce LDIs, or ‘dissuasion and interception’ lasers, which they first unveiled in June 2016. The laser sends beams of light to temporarily overwhelm and confuse those at the receiving end. Similar lasers have been used against Somali pirates, though GEIM claims these lasers are in line with French safety standards (but: if the laser is used at close range, it’s not clear whether these safety standards would still be met).

Note that we are still seeking further confirmation whether this laser is the one that will be used in the coming eviction. The report in Canard enchaîné from which the first rumours of the laser arose confirm that the company producing the laser is French and, as far as we are aware, GEIM seems to be the primary French company producing LDIs.⁷⁴