Key keywords: Nantes police child sexual violence response, minor sexual abuse investigation training, French law enforcement child victim interview protocol, unplanned child victim interview risks, Nantes law enforcement sexual offense on minors task force, child sexual violence victim support France, trauma-informed child interview practice Recent data from the French Ministry of the Interior shows that reported cases of sexual violence against minors under 18 have risen by 42% nationwide between 2021 and 2024, with the jurisdiction of Nantes in the Loire region recording a 47% increase, far exceeding the national average. For a long time, frontline police officers in Nantes were rarely provided with specialized training on communicating with child victims of sexual violence, leading to widespread systemic issues: untrained officers often conducted interviews on an improvised basis, either asking leading questions that rendered witness testimony inadmissible in court, or forcing young survivors to repeatedly recount traumatic experiences, causing severe secondary psychological harm. Many cases were dropped due to insufficient valid evidence, leaving perpetrators unpunished and survivors and their families deeply distrustful of local law enforcement. To address this escalating crisis, the Nantes police department launched a specialized training program for officers involved in sexual violence cases at the start of 2024. The 40-hour intensive training covers core modules including child developmental psychology, trauma-informed communication skills, evidence-based methods to avoid leading questions, identification of non-verbal trauma signals in children, and coordinated working protocols with local child protection agencies and licensed child psychologists. The department has also established dedicated, low-stress interview spaces for minor victims, furnished with soft seating, age-appropriate toys, and neutral, warm decor to eliminate the intimidating atmosphere of standard interrogation rooms and reduce young survivors’ anxiety during testimony collection. As of August 2024, 120 frontline officers in Nantes have completed the full training, with a stated goal to cover all criminal investigation officers assigned to violence against persons cases by the end of the year. Preliminary operational data shows that cases handled by trained officers have a 67% prosecution success rate, up from 38% before the program was launched, while reports of secondary trauma among child victims have dropped by 52%. One high-profile case in June 2024 involved a 10-year-old survivor who initially refused to speak to untrained officers; a trained specialist used play-based communication techniques across three low-pressure 45-minute sessions to collect complete, valid testimony, leading to the successful conviction of the perpetrator, the child’s stepfather. The Nantes model is now being studied by police departments in Lyon, Bordeaux and Marseille, all of which plan to roll out similar training programs in 2025 to improve their response to the rising volume of child sexual violence cases across the country.