“My name is Lou, I’m 19, soon to be 20. I’m a trans woman, in transition for a year and a half. I live in Nice and I am a sales consultant,” Lou introduces himself shyly. In early January, his story “made noise” on social networks. “A friend advised me to share what I had experienced because it was not normal,” she explains. When she came to file a complaint for rape, she was “victim of transphobia” by the police officer who interviewed her.
On her Twitter account, where she has “only a hundred subscribers” who are her friends, she published a copy of the complaint she had just made to the Nice police station on January 9. Within days, her story was retweeted 4,000 times and liked almost 12,000 times.
Two days before, while she was doing her laundry, she confides in 20 minutes that she “was raped by a stranger”. “A man followed me home after sexually assaulting me for the first time in the laundromat. He forced me to perform oral sex on him and raped me before running away. I was paralyzed. » Reluctant to go to the police station « and the system to which [elle allait] expose herself”, she goes to the hospital “to take samples” on the advice of a relative. Lou does the analyzes and finally decides to file a complaint. The audition will take place two days later. “I tried to end my life in the meantime,” explains the traumatized young woman.
The hearing, “a horrible moment”
At the police station, the policeman begins by asking him for information that seems “trivial” to him, but very quickly, “it became a horrible moment”. On the complaint, it is written that the agent asks him questions such as: “Are you homosexual [sic] ? », « do you like to practice fellatio? », « do you like to practice sodomy? » or « what are your practices, positions that you like to do? and “Have you agreed to a commercial transaction in exchange for your services?” “.
He even goes further by commenting: “What bothers me a little is that you don’t really have the behavior of a victim for this kind of facts. Generally, talking about the facts provokes certain behaviors, you seem really calm. The Niçoise shows on the documents that he also wanted to know if the report “had given him pleasure”. She explains that she “did not realize right away that the policeman’s approach was unhealthy”.
“I went beyond the misgenerating [le fait d’attribuer à une personne un genre dans lequel la personne ne se reconnaît pas] but after the audition, I was not well, very weak psychologically. I felt like I was suffering a double jeopardy, I wanted it to end as soon as possible. I was destroyed. »
A letter to the prefect
A situation that “never should have existed” for the family planning of the Alpes-Maritimes which decided to challenge the prefect through a letter, also signed by the Center LGBTQIA + Côte d’Azur and NousToutes06. The three local associations believe that “support for [la] complaint of sexual assault by the officer violates the fundamental rights of individuals”.
They add: “We therefore count at least five criteria which are not compatible with the position of agent.es depository of the authority responsible for the complaint of a victim. […] This example demonstrates transphobic behavior which constitutes additional violence suffered by a vulnerable person, victim of sexual violence. The prefecture replied on February 14 that it had taken note of this letter and “asked the services of the departmental director of public security for the Alpes-Maritimes to carry out a careful examination of this request”.
Co-construct training with local associations
The structures are now waiting to be able to discuss with the DDSP to propose “co-constructing interventions” with local associative actors “with the police” so that there is “an unconditional welcome that is dignified, respectful and adapted to public in accordance with the principles of the Republic. Because for them, the problem comes above all from the “lack of training” that needs to be corrected “with the right players”. This is also what Lou thinks, who says she is “ready to get involved to change things” because “it’s something that’s missing, concerned people who talk”.
Nearly two months after the events, the young woman “had no news from the police” but saw once ” [son] rapist downstairs [elle] “. Mentally, she tries “to go up the slope but it’s difficult”. “I am followed by two shrinks to prevent these events from causing me too much trauma. She is also considering taking legal action against the police officer who took her complaint. “If it can question the system and make it evolve to help even one person, I will go all the way. I am determined. »
The DDSP assures that the national police “make every effort to support the victims”
Contacted by 20 minutes, the prefecture transferred the request to the National Police Information and Communication Service (Sicop). By email, the Sicop assures that “the reception of victims, in particular for traumatic facts, is a priority for the national police”. Before adding that “taking a complaint responds to essential principles. […] If empathy and support are essential, and are part of the qualities expected of our police officers, it is a question of characterizing a crime or an offense, requiring the victim to be questioned about the circumstances, including in a precise manner”.
The DDSP06 department then mentions the existence of “very specific training” on sexist and sexual violence, “knowledge updating courses” but also “reinforced modules in the initial schooling of police officers” dedicated in particular “to workers of sex, to users with disabilities, to LGBTQI + victims and users who may constitute a “vulnerable” public”. And to conclude: “The national police are doing everything possible to support the victims and to ensure that the initiation of a judicial process is not an additional trauma but on the contrary a process of recognition of its status, of the reality of the facts, already participating in the reconstruction of the victim. This desire is clearly part of the DNA of each of our police officers. »