STEAMY SUMMER IN GRAU-DU-ROI | TF1 | Appels d'urgence

How do you maintain the peace in a tiny town whose population multiplies by thirteen for a period of two months? That’s the challenge faced every summer by the police, firefighters and rescue services of Grau-du-Roi, one of the most popular seaside resorts on the Mediterranean coast. With its sixteen kilometres of beach and one of the biggest campsites in Europe, the town goes from eight thousand inhabitants to one hundred thousand during the holidays and peace and quiet give way to boisterousness. The proof is that the majority of crimes recorded in the tiny town take place during the summer: burglaries, brawls between drunken tourists, thefts, not to mention assaults aboard the little train that runs along the coast… The police have their work cut out to maintain the peace. While the firefighters don’t get a moment’s rest what with road accidents and minor injuries (people taken ill on the beach, jellyfish stings, etc.) as they have to deal with tourists for whom “vacation” means “recklessness” and “negligence”. For these holiday makers the summer may have a bitter after taste. Not to mention the lifeguards along the beach, for whom 2013 will go down as a dark memory. Throughout the summer, our reporters lived at the hectic pace of the emergency calls received by the people responsible for the safety of holiday makers.