What is a stained note ?
What should you do if you have one or more stained notes?
Vigie Billet Worldwide
un billet maculé est
probablement un billet volé
A note from the Chairman
Blowing in Europe
You know or you have heard about "Vigie Billet" and you might have read the posters placed in banks, post offices, police forces and gendarmerie brigades or received information through government websites... Read more
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PRESS : Launching of Vigie Billet, press releases, seen on the web web...
Vigie Billet is a citizen’s initiative, why ? for who ? In two words...
Main disposals of the new regulations on the protection of CIT and layout of spaces served.
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Vigie Billet is a citizen’s initiative bringing together numerous public and private participants, individuals, companies and institutions involved in the production of bank notes, their conservation, circulation, protection and also the fight against and search for criminals.
Because it is possible to put an end to the circulation of stolen money.
Because crime must not pay.
Because like this, crime can be discouraged. Because the fight against crime is everyone's business.
Today, numerous security mechanisms make it possible to neutralise, through staining, notes that have been subject to attempted theft. The effectiveness of this technology and the development of prevention are communicated through information and education :
So that the public knows how to recognise, and knows not to accept or to exchange, stained notes that may be the result of a theft.
So that potential criminals understand that their thefts will bring them nothing.
The staining in action or other TV reports
Blowing in Europe
You know or you have heard about "Vigie Billet" and you might have read the posters placed in banks, post offices, police forces and gendarmerie brigades or received information through government websites.
We created this non-profit association ten years ago to educate the public and especially retailers of the risks associated with accepting and circulating stained banknotes.
Indeed, about 60% of the interbank cash in transit transport is now operating in France in secure suitcases carried on board of often unmarked vehicles. Thefts during these modernized transports trigger a neutralization of the banknotes by staining products. Additionally, a significant number of cash dispensers (ATMs) benefit from the same protection device. Despite the circumstances, criminals sometimes attempt to circulate these stained banknotes. Our goal is to counteract these criminal activities
These last two years have been marked by a change in depth of the French legislation on the transport of funds. The rationale behind this has been to strengthen of the safety of personnel working in the sector. The main idea of the legislator was to focus on deterrence of crime. To get there, a significant focus was centered on banknotes neutralization by way of staining.
Vigie Billet welcomed in due course this positive development towards security, made possible by the combination of political will and the acceptance of new constraints by stakeholders in the business of transport and distribution of funds. We are now supporting the legislation implementation in a smoothest and largest possible way.
The details of this regulation are available on the website of the Inter-ministerial Delegation to Private Security (DISP) as well as answers to the various questions it may raise. These new rules become perceptible by the general public, particularly with the arrival of a pictogram on the cash in transit containers. The pictogram serves as a reminder of the presence of ink staining devices. You will find it on this website. The Ministry of the Interior continues to be a valuable communicator of our message around stained banknotes. The French banking federation has also been active at their side over the long haul.
This regulatory progress pioneered in France is now emulated in Europe.
There is both a multiplication of initiatives on this subject by our neighbors and more systematic consideration of the theme. Indeed, issues such as new physical substrates, means of transportation and the legal status of banknotes in the European Union are being tackled in a more consistent fashion. The EUSISS data base pertaining to thefts and neutralization systems, monitored and managed by the forensic police with the support of Vigie Billet is now taking a European dimension. The European network of forensic science institutes plays a key role in this. This obviously is a reward for our long lasting cooperation with a department of excellence of the French police forces. It also is a decisive milestone for police investigation services, forensic labs and judicial services across the Continent.
More than ever, we invite you not to accept stained banknotes.
Take your place in the citizen chain of the refusal of crime and violence for the safety of all cash users. We invite you to submit your proposals or testimonials on the blog of the association.
More favorable pieces of legislation are expected in 2016 and we will hail those through a new communication campaign.
We shall be in touch again soon,
Paul Roquette
TV Report : The staining on France 2 (a French channel)
Dismantling of a criminal network, thanks to staining systems