Traveling to Beauvais, the Minister of Justice Eric Dupond-Moretti assured that 3,000 serious danger telephones will be deployed by the end of the year.

These devices are reserved for the fight against domestic violence.

Justice can attribute it to some victims so that they can reach help more quickly. 

Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti signed Monday in Beauvais an order form with Orange for 1,000 additional serious danger phones intended for victims of domestic violence for a target of 3,000 phones deployed by the end of the year. These mobile phones have a preprogrammed "shortcut" key, allowing the victim in serious danger to reach a remote assistance service, accessible 7 days a week and 24 hours a day. The latter is responsible for quickly requesting the intervention of the police through a dedicated channel.

It is a "fantastic" tool, of which "we can now say that it is particularly effective", making it possible to avoid "a lot of crimes" and "a lot of violence", declared the Minister of Justice after having signed the order form at the Ingram logistics center in Beauvais where he notably attended a test of the terminal.

"The internal security forces intervened, in 2020, 1,200 times thanks to these serious danger telephones (TGD), that is to say 1,200 tragedies that were avoided," he added.

Support from an association to help victims 

Tested in 2009 in Seine-Saint-Denis and Strasbourg, the serious danger telephone was introduced into law in 2014 and allows women victims of domestic violence to quickly request the intervention of the police in the event of a 'emergency. These devices are "allocated by the prosecutors to any victim of domestic violence or rape, in a situation of serious danger, for a renewable period of six months. The allocation of the device includes support by an association to help victims", recalls the Ministry of Justice in a message to AFP. When needed, the courts place orders with the access to law and justice and victim assistance service,to have material delivered which is then activated at the time of its allocation.

As of July 1, 2021, 2,048 serious danger telephones were already in the hands of the courts, including 1,529 allocated terminals (i.e. 75% of the overall fleet). This new order should make it possible to reach the objective set by the government of 3,000 phones available before the end of the year. The TGDs have been deployed gradually each year: in 2017, the courts had 543 telephones in 2017, 842 in 2018 and 1,082 in 2019.