Question 9966 — security of property and people

Summary

The Minister of State, Minister of the Interior, attaches the greatest importance to ensuring that reception, information and assistance to victims are a constant priority for the police, because providing concrete responses to the expectations of the French in terms of security also means better welcoming them and facilitating their procedures. The quality of the public security service depends on it. It is also about the quality of the relationships between the population and the security forces, of which the Minister of State, Minister of the Interior, has made a central axis of his action. Police officers and gendarmes are “at the service of the population”, as is solemnly stated in the code of ethics of the national police and the national gendarmerie appearing in the regulatory part of the internal security code. It should also be remembered that the Ministry of the Interior has equipped since 2005 with a delegation for victims (DAV), a structure common to the police and the gendarmerie, placed under the Director General of the National Police (DGPN). Within the central directorate of public security (DCSP), which constitutes the main active police directorate in terms of volume and through its network of police stations on the national territory, the importance attached to the reception of victims is regularly reminded all staff. For example, a command instruction from the DCSP dated April 25, 2016 drew the services' attention to the provisions of the law of August 17, 2015 adapting criminal procedure to European Union law, aimed at better consideration of victims, as well as to the specific provisions provided for, in matters of sexual violence in particular, by the decree of application of February 26, 2016 relating to the rights of victims (possibility of being heard by an investigator of the same sex, hearings carried out by specially trained investigators, etc.). The legal framework is also detailed in the documentation relating to taking complaints provided to student and trainee police officers as part of initial and continuing training. This documentation is also available to agents on the national police intranet. If the police and gendarmerie services already carry out, in conjunction with specialized associations and professionals, important work in caring for victims, the quality of the public's reception also depends on its modernization and the simplification of procedures, in particular through the development of digital technology. Work is being carried out by the national police to enable filing a complaint online for certain scams committed on the internet. Furthermore, it should be remembered that the Ministry of the Interior has experimented since 2008 and generalized in 2013 an online pre-complaint teleservice limited, for reasons of efficiency and investigative requirements, to attacks on property where the victim does not know the perpetrator(s) (theft, fraud, etc.). Its perimeter was extended, by decree no. 2018-388 of May 24, 2018, to certain attacks against people whose perpetrator(s) are unknown (discrimination, as well as certain offenses under the law of July 29, 1881 on freedom of the press). Concerning the reception of women victims of sexual offenses, this is a subject on which the Ministry of the Interior is fully mobilized and strives to further improve its practices and organizational methods. THE Victim reception systems already existing within the national police mainly concern domestic and sexual violence. In particular, they organize the possibility of referral to a psychologist, a social worker or a victim support association. Furthermore, a framework protocol relating to the treatment of handrails in matters of domestic violence was signed on November 8, 2013. between the ministries of the interior, justice and women's rights, and has already been supplemented by around a hundred local conventions. The framework protocol systematizes the filing of complaints for this type of incident and very strictly regulates the possibilities of resorting only to a simple handrail, in any case at the express request of the victim. A considerable effort is also made in terms of training police officers. Alongside the aforementioned protocols, educational tools on violence against women have been designed to provide police officers with the means to better welcome and support the victim in their journey and procedures, and to facilitate the partnership of professionals in providing care. Various supports have also been developed, with the help of the interministerial mission for the protection of women against violence and the fight against human trafficking. For example, a “reflex sheet” on interviewing victims of violence within a couple allows police officers to better understand the specificities of this type of investigation and the phenomenon of control of the perpetrator over the victim. Since 2014, more than 12,000 police officers have been trained using these educational tools as part of initial or continuing training. By Elsewhere, a specific module relating to domestic violence, including relational approaches with women victims of domestic violence, was introduced into the initial training of officers and guards. The national police also conduct an active policy of professionalizing the mission of welcoming the public, with the designation of more than 500 “reception representatives” in police stations and the organization dedicated training for these staff. Four-day training is also offered to agents occupying permanent or occasional reception roles. As part of these two training courses, the treatment of women victims of violence is discussed in detail, in particular to emphasize the role of social workers and psychologists in police stations. Specific devices also exist for the support women victims of violence. This is particularly the case for the family protection brigades created in 2009. 183 are today active within the national police, made up of more than 1,200 dedicated and specially trained police officers, and 101 within the national gendarmerie. Added to this are the specialized partners who intervene in the police stations: 140 social workers (including 43 shared with the gendarmerie) in the national police and 121 in the gendarmerie, and 73 psychologists, to which should be added the professionals from victim support associations working in 123 offices within the police stations. These actors are assisted by 213 “victim assistance” correspondents in the services, supported by 414 local “victim assistance” correspondents. The Minister of State, Minister of the Interior, recalled the importance of these issues to the occasion of a conference held on March 5, 2018 on “The action of the Ministry of the Interior in welcoming and caring for women victims of violence”. Concerning more specifically the care of victims of sexual or gender-based violence, measures are planned to combat the fear of many women of filing a complaint, which can be explained by different reasons (family or emotional closeness of the aggressor, shame, fear of being separated from their children, etc.). The evaluations carried out confirm that women victims of violence are overall less satisfied with the reception in police stations than other victims, particularly with regard to time and listening, as well as conditions of confidentiality. However, the quality of the reception is decisive in encouraging victims to file a complaint. However, it should be noted that in matters of sexual violence, and whatever the professionalism of the investigators, the necessarily precise questions asked of the victims, as well as the confrontations, may seem incomprehensible or scandalous to them. However, these are essential acts for the development of legally rigorous procedures and the manifestation of the truth. It is therefore important to make it even easier to make complaints. This first involves increasing the number of channels for taking victims' voices into account (making complaints to the hospital, for example). Digital naturally offers opportunities. As announced by the President of the Republic in his speech on November 25, 2017 on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, online reporting for victims of sexual and sexist will soon be made available to the public. This reporting platform will allow a victim to be guided and supported from home in their efforts. The system must allow specific support for victims of gender-based and sexual violence 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It will not be an internet portal for filing a complaint, but a webchat or chat-type tool, accessible from a internet browser, allowing victims to contact specially trained professionals, to find out the steps to follow and, where applicable, benefit from an appointment at a police station or gendarmerie brigade or, at a minimum, if the victim does not wish to receive support or does not plan to file a complaint, making it possible to inform the territorially competent police or gendarmerie department of the situation. The staff who will manage this platform will benefit from specific training, developed in connection with the interministerial mission for the protection of women against violence and the fight against human trafficking, associative actors, magistrates, psychiatrists and psychologists. Material support for victims in police stations and gendarmerie brigades must also be possible. in a suitable setting. Several innovative practices already exist to provide a better reception, with dedicated hours, dedicated places, specially trained staff, and a close link with victim assistance associations. These actions will be widespread. As part of the daily security police (PSQ), emphasis will be placed on the importance of offering women victims of physical or sexual violence a welcome adapted, “tailor-made”. The number of psychologists in police stations will also be increased over the next three years and the network of social workers in police stations will be further strengthened. Finally, in terms of the legal arsenal, the bill strengthening the fight against sexual and gender-based violence, currently being examined in Parliament, will make it possible in particular to repress acts of so-called "street" harassment, perpetrated on the public way against women. An offense of sexist contempt will be created, which will in principle constitute a fourth class contravention which may give rise to a fixed fine. This simplified procedure will allow law enforcement to quickly sanction the perpetrators.

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