Police (illustration).

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SYSPEO / SIPA

The book revealed police violence.

The Paris public prosecutor's office announced on Friday that it had opened an investigation after the publication of a book on Thursday in which a journalist infiltrated for two years in the Parisian police spoke of “beatings” committed by officials of the 19th arrondissement in Paris.

The investigation, opened after a report Thursday from the Paris police headquarters, aims to "identify" in the book

Flic

, written by journalist Valentin Gendrot "the facts likely to fall within the scope of a criminal qualification" and has was entrusted to the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN), the Paris prosecutor's office told AFP.

Police investigation also launched

Thursday, the Paris police headquarters had also announced that it had entered the "police police" for another investigation, this time administrative.

"At this stage, the accused police officers are not identified and the alleged facts are not verified," added the police headquarters.

Violence, racist and homophobic insults but also lack of means, suicide and the uneasiness of the troops: in this book published on Thursday and whose publication had been kept secret, Valentin Gendrot recounts his two eventful years of infiltration into the Parisian police.

Officiating in the 19th century police station between March and August 2019, he explained that he had witnessed several “beatings” and testified to “racist” practices on the part of certain police officers.

A "blunder" against a teenager denounced by the author

The most explosive passage of his book, Valentin Gendrot claims to have witnessed a "blunder" committed by a colleague and that he himself covered with other police officers.

During a control which degenerates, a police officer puts several "slaps" and "slaps" to a teenager, then "punches", according to the report of the journalist.

The young man, whose seriousness of injuries is not detailed, is taken to the police station for an identity check.

The police officer then files a complaint for contempt and threats, the teenager for violence.

A "lying" report is written to "charge the kid and absolve" the police officer, says Gendrot who will also incriminate the teenager during an internal investigation, explaining to AFP that he thus wanted to be able to "denounce a thousand other blunders of this type ”, even though“ it was an extremely complicated decision ”.

The book also evokes a number of ferments for the long-term discontent of staff: policy of numbers, cars and premises out of age, suicide of a colleague and hostility of the population (a person in custody openly invites them to commit suicide) , salary of EUR 1,340 per month net in Paris.

Specialist in infiltrations, Valentin Gendrot wanted to explore a “divisive” institution using this controversial method, the subject of recurrent debate among journalists.

"It moves the lines", justified the author in an interview with AFP.

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