Since February 26, 2024, the victim of a criminal offense is supposed to be able to file a complaint or have their statements collected by a police officer or gendarme, by video under a decree published in the official journal the day before.
In reality, however, this is not possible and only the online pre-complaint system is offered to victims who must go to the police station or gendarmerie for the complaint to be signed and filed.
A possibility for Sarthois and 5% of Yvelinois only
Video complaints are currently only possible in the towns of Sarthe (72) and in these fourteen communes of Yvelines (78) out of the 259 in the department: Châteaufort, Coignières, Elancourt, Guyancourt, La Verrière, Le Mesnil-Saint- Denis, Magny-les-Hameaux, Maurepas, Milon-la-Chapelle, Montigny-le-Bretonneux, Saint-Lambert, Toussus-le-Noble, Trappes, Voisins-le-Bretonneux.
These cities were designated to conduct the experiment since May 2023 and remain the only ones to offer this innovative service until further notice.
Contacted by us, the Ministry of the Interior tells us that “the objective is to achieve effective commissioning of the video complaint service in the fall of 2024”, i.e. one quarter more than what was announced President Emmanuel Macron, during his speech to the 2024 class of justice auditors on February 9.
It is therefore useless, between now and this deadline, to hope to save yourself a trip or long hours of waiting as is customary in certain police stations to file a complaint.
Once the system is put into service, victims of violence, threats, theft, fraud, breach of trust, discrimination, cyberharassment, willful damage or destruction of property will be able to submit their video complaint, using their France connect identifier.
A simple faculty and not for all complaints
The possibility of filing a complaint remotely is an option and not an obligation.
Complaints will still be possible to file with a police service or gendarmerie unit.
In the event of sexual assault or violation, a video complaint is not possible since a hearing in the presence of the person remains obligatory.
Copy of the minutes, on request
Once the complaint has been collected, and prior to its signature by the judicial police officer or agent, the complaint report is sent to the victim electronically.
It can then request a modification that it considers necessary.
Then, the report is signed by the officer or police agent without the victim having to sign it.
The receipt is sent to the victim and if they request it, obtaining a copy of the report is possible.
In all cases, a document setting out these different rights is made available to the victim, in an electronic and printable format.
Listen: Do the police have the right to refuse my filing of a complaint?