National Gendarmerie

See gendarmerie for similar forces in other countries.

In France, the Gendarmerie Nationale (National Gendarmerie) is the national gendarmerie and military police force. It has a strength of 104,275 personnel.

Missions

General Oberto inspecting troops in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina; a gendarme on Military police duty can be seen in the background.

Its missions include:

• The policing of countryside areas and of small towns, usually populations under 10,000, outside of the jurisdiction of the French National Police. About half the French population is under the direct jurisdiction of the Gendarmerie.
• Criminal investigations under judiciary supervision.
• Crowd control and other security activities.
• The security of airports and military installations, as well as all investigations relating to the military, including in foreign interventions.
• Participations in ceremonies involving foreign heads of states or heads of governments.

Chain of Command

French Gendarmes, in the traditional kepi, guarding the Paris Hall of Justice

While administratively a part of the French armed forces, thus under the aegis of the Ministry of Defence, it is operationally attached to the Ministry of the Interior for its missions within France, and criminal investigations are run under the supervision of prosecutors or investigating magistrates (judges). Its members operate in uniform and exceptionally in plainclothes.

History

A military corps having such duties was first created in 1337 and was placed under the command of the Constable of France, and therefore named the connétablie. In 1626 after the aboliton of the title of connétable, it was put under the command of the Maréchal of France, and renamed Maréchaussée. Its main mission was protecting the roads from highwaymen.

The gens d'armes were originally heavy cavalry in the king's household, the equivalent of the "Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms". In 1720 the maréchaussée was subordinated to the gendarmerie; after the French Revolution the maréchaussée was abolished and the gendarmerie took over its duties in 1791.

The origins of the modern gendarmerie lie with the maréchaussée of 18th century France. This was a mounted police force organised and equipped along military lines. While its existence ensured the relative safety of French rural districts and roads the maréchaussée was regarded in contemporary England (which had no effective police force of any nature) as a symbol of foreign tyranny. In 1789, on the eve of the French Revolution, the maréchaussée numbered 3,660 men divided into small detachments or brigades. By law dated 16 February 1791 this force was renamed gendarmerie nationale. Its personnel and role remained unchanged. Under Napoleon the numbers and responsibilities of the gendarmerie were significantly expanded.

Organization

The Gendarmerie Nationale is divided into the gendarmerie départementale and the gendarmerie mobile.

The Director General

Général d'Armée Guy Parayre was appointed Director general of the Gendarmerie on November 3, 2004, by the Council of Ministers. He officially took command on December 6, 2004, and succeeded Pierre Mutz. This nomination gave the Gendarmerie a director general who rose through the ranks. Like the other staffs, the Gendarmerie is now directed at the highest level by a gendarme. Indeed, since October 1, 1933, and except for a period from August 1943 to July 1947, the director general was a civilian, usually a judge, in accordance with the decree n° 73-259 of March 9, 1973.

General of the Army Guy Parayre was born on June 29, 1947, in Saint-Ambroix (Gard). He is married and the father of two children.

Directorate-General

Its headquarters, called the Directorate-General of the National Gendarmerie, is located, since 1969, at rue St Didier in the XVI° district of the Paris Metropolis. As it grew, expansion was necessary, and now includes eleven other sites distributed throughout the capital and it outskirts of the city.

The Directorate-General of the national gendarmerie includes: - the general staff, divided into offices and services, - one inspectorate of gendarmerie (IGN), - the inspector-general - three services including/understanding each subdirectorate,

• The Inspectorate of the National Gendarmerie (I.G.N) - responsible for studies, information and control. In particular for:

- the judicial enquiries into gendarme misconduct. - the control and the administrative council of the formations of the gendarmerie as well as the economic analysis of the management led by these same formations. - measurements of prevention and control relating to hygiene, the safety and the working conditions.

• Human Resources Service (S.R.H.) - The general, chief of the service of human resources directs the management of the whole of the personnel of the gendarmerie, as well as the policy of recruitment and training of this personnel.
• Plans and Means Service (S.P.M.) - The controller general, chief of the service of the plans and means, translated into plans and programs budgetary objectives of the gendarmerie.
• Operations and Employment Service (S.O.E.) - The general, chief of the service of the operations and employment, has authority on:

- the subdirectorate of the organization and the evaluation, - the subdirectorate of the international co-operation, - the subdirectorate of defense and the law and order, - the subdirectorate of public safety and the road safety, - the subdirectorate of the Criminal Investigation Department.

The Directorate-General takes part in the correct operation of the organization. It works: - for the units of the ground and with their profit (at the regional level, the areas and the legions are the essential interfaces so that the decisions taken in Paris correspond well to the needs felt on the ground) ; - as a body of decision-making aid political for all that concerns the gendarmerie in police headquarters (budget, employment…).

It employs 2991 active soldiers, 423 civilian volunteers and 363 other personnel ( 2004 Figures).

The Departemental Gendarmerie

The Departmental Gendarmerie, or Gendarmerie Départementale, also named «La Blanche» (The White), conducts local policing functions throughout the French territory. Its territorial divisions are based on the administrative divisions of France, particularly the departments from which the Departmental Gendarmerie derives its name.

It is divided into regions (headed by a general, one for each defense zone), themselves divided into legions [1] (headed by a colonel, one for each of the 26 administrative region), themselves divided into groupements (one for each of the 100 département, thus the name), themselves divided into compagnies (one for each of the 342 arrondissements).

It maintains gendarmerie stations throughout the rural parts of the territory. In addition, it has specialised units:

• Research units, who conduct criminal investigations when their difficulty exceeds the abilities of the territorial units;
• Surveillance and intervention units, reinforce gendarmerie forces in high crime areas;
• Units for prevention of juvenile delinquency;
• Highway patrols
• Mountain units, specialised in search and rescue operations, surveillance and inquiries in mountainous areas.

In addition, the Gendarmerie has an institute (Institut de Recherche Criminelle de la Gendarmerie Nationale) specializing in the investigation of crimes by scientific and technological means.

Note that the research units may be called into action by the judiciary even within cities. As an example, the Paris research section of the Gendarmerie was in charge of the investigations into the vote-rigging allegations in the 5th district of Paris (see corruption scandals in the Paris region).

Gendarmes normally operate in uniform. They may operate in plainclothes only for specific missions and with their supervisors' authorisation.

• 
  Gendarmerie van
• 
  Gendarmes without kepis in an older uniform
• 
  Gendarmes in an relaxed uniform, with soft hats

The Mobile Gendarmerie

Some gendarmes mobiles equipped with shields, FAMAS and gas mask.

Riot control gear: body armour, shield, tear gas mask, apparatus for throwing tear gas canisters

Using tear gas

Using tear gas

File:GSIGN assault on TGV.gif

A training assault of GIGN on a TGV train.

The Mobile Gendarmerie, or Gendarmerie Mobile, also named « La Jaune » (The Yellow), is divided into legions, similarly to the Departmental Gendarmerie.

Its main responsibilities are

• crowd and riot control
• security of public buildings
• all policing tasks that require large amounts of personnel (Vigipirate counter-terrorism patrols, searches in the countryside...).

Such units may intervene abroad in varied cases such as a hostage crisis or the support of peacekeeping operations.

The tasks of the gendarmes mobiles tasks are similar to those of the police units known as Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité (CRS), for which they are often mistaken. Easy ways to distinguish them include:

• the uniform of the CRS is blue, the gendarmes mobiles are clad in black;
• the CRS wear a big red CRS patch; the gendarmes have stylised grenades.

Specialized units

It has the following specialised units:

• the security and intervention group of the Gendarmerie Nationale (GSIGN), consisting of:
  • the intervention group of the Gendarmerie Nationale (GIGN), an elite counter-terrorism and hostage rescue unit,
  • the parachutist squadron of the Gendarmerie Nationale (EPIGN),
  • a detachment to the security group of the President of the French Republic, whose responsibility is to ensure the safety of the President and of his family and guests.
• Armoured units:
  • 17 mobile squadrons equipped with tactical trucks and VAB armored personnel carriers, throughout the French territory;
  • the armored group at Versailles-Satory, consisting of three squadrons of VAB wheeled armoured personnel carriers and one squadron of ERC 90 Sagaie, heavy armoured cars with 90 mm cannons.
• Republican Guard - a ceremonial unit based around Paris.

See Main article: French Republican Guard

The Garde Républicaine, is a ceremonial unit based in Paris, whose main mission is to guard official buildings and perform honorary services. They also protect the French president.

Special divisions

Naval Gendarmerie

Main article: Naval Gendarmerie

Placed under the dual supervision of the Gendarmerie and the Navy, its missions include:

• police and security in the naval bases;
• maritime surveillance;
• police at sea;
• assistance and rescue at sea.

Air Transport Gendarmerie

The Air Transport Gendarmerie (Gendarmerie des Transports Aériens) is placed under the dual supervision of the Gendarmerie and the direction of civilian aviation of the transportation ministry, its missions include:

• police and security in civilian airfields and airports;
• filtering access to aircraft, counter-terrorism and counter-narcotic activities, freight surveillance;
• surveillance of technical installations of the airports (control tower...);
• traffic control on the roads within the airports;
• protection of important visitors stopping for a layover;
• judiciary inquiries pertaining to accidents of civilian aircraft.

Air Gendarmerie

Gendarmerie helicopter

The Air Gendarmerie (Gendarmerie de l'Air) is placed under the dual supervision of the Gendarmerie and the Air Force, it fulfills police and security missions in the air bases, and goes on the site of accident of military aircraft.

Ordnance Gendarmerie

The Ordnance Gendarmerie (Gendarmerie de l'Armement) fulfills police and security missions in the establishments of the Délégation Générale pour l'Armement (France's defence procurement agency).

Trivia

• Career gendarmes are either commissioned or non-commissioned officers. The lower ranks consist in auxiliary gendarmes on limited-time contracts.
• The gendarmerie is sometimes unofficially referred to as the maréchaussée (an old name for the service), and the gendarmes as pandores.
• The officer school of the Gendarmerie Nationale is located in Melun.
• The symbol of the gendarmerie is a grenade, it's also worn by the Italian Carabinieri and the Grenadier Guards in England.
• In 2005, the Gendarmerie switched its 70,000 personal computers from Microsoft Office (or Microsoft Word) to the OpenOffice.org suite. In 2006, they are switching web browsers from Internet Explorer to Mozilla Firefox and email clients to Mozilla Thunderbird. According to Gen. Brachet, Chief of Communications and Computing Systems, the goal is to move all applications to fully standardised protocols and formats, so that they are platform-neutral.

External links

• Gendarmerie Nationale official site
• The French Gendarmerie Directory

See also

• Law enforcement in France
• Police
• Gendarmerie
• Le gendarme de Saint-Tropez - cult comedy series