How I became a psychocriminologist (profiler)

"A lot of students seem disappointed when I tell them that we rarely go out into the field." Indeed, apart from trips to the provinces sometimes, Emma's daily life seems "ordinary" . "A day is typical of an office job, arriving at 9 am, leaving at 6 pm." But the bottom is not so much! "The first step in an investigation is to analyze the crime scene to determine the perpetrator's motivation, the motive for the crime and the underlying fantasies specific to him" , explains the psychocriminologist.

"For this we rely on the 'procedure' ( hearing, observation, autopsy ). From this analysis results a more or less complete profile of an unknown perpetrator. We establish it using the profiling grids and refine it with our knowledge. of psychologists. In the same way, we draw up a 'victimological profile' to complete the criminal triad: author/place/victim" , she affirms.

Read also

"A vocation and not a profession of opportunity"

"In my time, there were no psychocriminologists in the police. Today there are five." Emma is one of them. "All my schooling, I heard 'it won't be possible, it doesn't exist. Do something else'", she says but that didn't stop her, quite the contrary.

"At 15, I was surprised by the singular personality of Hannibal (ex - psychiatrist, psychopath and cannibal) in The Silence of the Lambs (American crime thriller). men really think like that ? ". The novel The Alienist by Caleb Carr opened a window for me to reflect on criminal personalities. Human beings and their deviations fascinate me . It is a vocation and not a profession of opportunity" , specifies Emma.

Her career as a "discreet, curious by nature" student proves it: license and master's degree in clinical psychology, DU in criminology applied to mental expertise, research papers on crimes of passion or female violence .

How to Treat an Enlarged Heart Naturally http://t.co/YWGceW2Ho5

— Carolina Garcia Sun Jul 06 09:29:51 +0000 2014

A rare and emotionally strained profession

Being a psychocriminologist involves finding THE right specialization in psychology, among the many subcategories of the discipline. " Most psychocriminologists in France are clinical psychologists . They have received training in general psychology but above all in psychopathology, which deals with criminology and its recurring phenomena such as pathologies, violent behavior, etc.", specifies the professional.

What about know-how? " A good psychocriminologist must be patient and empathetic . You have to let go of your judgments and have good self-knowledge," says Emma.

Taking a step back from cases is also essential to balance with private life: "I am often asked which case has marked me the most. I quote the Fiona case, having been involved all along. I met the mother and was duped by her suffering, which I thought was for her daughter, but was actually meant for her mate She was talking on the phone about starting a new life, when her daughter had been missing for two weeks ".

Read also

A daily life far removed from the image conveyed in TV series

If the profession of psychocriminologist is worthy of television series, the reality is however very far from it: "It is difficult for me to recommend a series faithful to our daily life", she believes. In question, fictitious qualities (flashes, gifts of clairvoyance) which distort his profession.

What then of her fictitious counterpart, the profiler Wendy Carr in the Mindhunter series? "She's not really one, because she's a psychiatrist from academia. Between the profilers and us, there are institutional differences. We are holders hired by the Ministry of the Interior. We have a police card but don't carry weapons ".

Finally, she finds that the term “crime psychologist” – title of the book by Florent Gathérias, who created the psychocriminology service of the French PJ in 2009 – is the most appropriate to explain her profession . But reality can also make you want fiction... Fulfilled in her work, Emma does not rule out leaving the police one day to "embark on the solo adventure of a novel, writing series scripts, even dropping out a role in a play", which she has been practicing for ten years.