Pascale Dubois death, first woman to lead France’s CRS, Digi Mart USA News: Pascale Dubois, the first woman to head the Compagnies républicaines de sécurité (CRS), died Sunday, November 1, 2026, at the age of 66 following a long illness. Her death is especially felt among police officers in the Val-d’Oise department, where she led public security services for nearly five years.
Her career began in the Val-d’Oise. Born in the Avesnois area of the Nord department, she studied private law in Lille and initially considered a career in the judiciary before choosing the National Police.
In 1986 she passed the inspector’s examination and made her first moves as an urban security investigator in the Val-d’Oise.
She later became a commissioner through the internal competitive examination and held several leadership posts in the Paris region. In October 2012 she was appointed departmental director of public security for the Val-d’Oise, succeeding Frédéric Auréal, whose deputy she had been since January.
She became the first woman to lead the National Police in the department.
In her own words at the time, she said there were about ten women directors nationally and that rank commands respect in the police, but that temperament and personality make the difference in the job, which demands much in terms of human resources. Her appointment came as the department faced urban violence, property crime, drug trafficking and burglaries, and she made the fight against street crime a priority.
Her career then took on a national dimension. In 2017 she joined the central directorate of the CRS as deputy director.
In late July 2020 she was named central director of the Compagnies républicaines de sécurité, becoming the first woman to lead the institution, created in 1944.
Her appointment came in a sensitive period for law enforcement, following the Yellow Vest crisis and amid debate over crowd control methods. As head of the CRS, she oversaw units deployed for public order maintenance, security at major events and various public security missions.
She left the post in 2025 after a career that included several command positions in Île-de-France.
Police associations paid tribute to her. The Association des hauts fonctionnaires de la Police nationale praised a “woman of commitment and difficult battles,” recalling her leadership of services considered challenging, according to Actu17.
From her first steps as an investigator in the Val-d’Oise to leading the CRS, Pascale Dubois marked nearly four decades of French police history.
