French National Police Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
The National Police (Police Nationale) is the main law enforcement agency of France with primary jurisdiction in cities and large towns, the other being the Gendarmerie with primary jurisdiction in smaller towns and rural and border areas. It is run under the Ministry of the Interior and has about 150,000 employees.
The National Police commissioned officers and criminal investigators and all Gendarms have sole competency for arresting suspects, serving search warrants, and conducting enquiries (under the supervision of the judiciary). National Police enlisted personnel can detain suspects under garde a vue. In some cases, customs officers and some other special police may also have those competencies.
Local police forces operated by communes (cities and towns) and rural areas called garde champetre, do not have many legal powers beyond traffic law enforcement and the normal citizen's arrest power that all persons have. Whether or not they should be allowed to carry firearms is a disputed issue.
Organization
The police is divided into directorates [1]:
- the directorate for the administration of the national police (DAPN)
- the directorate for training of the national police (DFPN)
- the central directorate for judiciary police (DCPJ), the criminal investigators.
- the Central Directorate for Public Security (DCSP), the uniformed patrol and response force.
- the Directorate of Territorial Security (DST), the Counter-intelligence service.
- the central directorate of the border police (DCPAF)
- the central directorate of general information [renseignements généraux] (DCRG)The records keepers.
- the general inspection of the national police (IPGN) – internal affairs department
- the central directorate for the Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité (DCCRS) – riot police
- the service of technical international police cooperation (SCTIP)
- the service for the protection of important personalities (SPHP)