Police municipale

City policeman in Toulouse (2014), an emergency vehicle in the background

The Police municipale (German city police ) is a corps of communal, partly armed officials in France . They perform police tasks that are the sovereignty of the municipalities under the responsibility of their mayors, d. H. mainly tasks related to the maintenance of public order and security as well as public hygiene.

organization

Map of the French municipalities with city police

With a total of around 20,000 members, the city police form the third largest group of police officers in France after the National Police and the National Gendarmerie . The number of city policemen varies from 0 to several hundred, depending on the municipality. At the municipal level, the members of the Police municipale are supplemented by the Gardes champêtres , whose area of responsibility lies mainly outside of built-up areas, and the Agents de surveillance de la voie publique (ASVP), who detect park violations .

tasks

City policemen on bicycles in Cannes (2013)

The area of competence of the Police municipale is divided into two main areas:

On the one hand, on the instructions of the mayor, the city policemen carry out tasks to carry out the police measures ordered by him. This area of responsibility, known as Police Administrative , roughly corresponds to that of a German public order office or municipal security service . The areas of competence in this area include building and fire police measures, the regulation of stationary and partly moving road traffic, youth protection, environmental and noise protection, assembly bans, funeral services and partly trade supervision. Furthermore, the mayor can order the provisional compulsory admission of mentally problematic or disturbed persons if there is immediate danger to the safety of persons .

The prefects are responsible for supervising the mayors' police measures . In the area of responsibility of the Police Prefecture of Paris , special regulations apply to the powers of the mayors. There is no Police municipale in the city of Paris itself .

The second essential area of responsibility of the Police municipale is the administrative assistance for the investigating police authorities of the Police nationale and the gendarmerie, i. H. the area of the Police judiciaire .

In order to carry out their tasks, the members of the Police municipale have certain police enforcement rights. Among other things, they are allowed to

Determine personal details,
Carry out alcohol controls, withdraw driver's licenses, shut down vehicles and query the registration and driving license registers,
gain access to the shared parts of private residential buildings,
Body searches during security checks and
Carry out baggage checks at major events.

Appearance, external features

Uniforms and badges

Badge of the Police municipale

Uniform, precise regulations exist nationwide for uniforms. The uniform must be kept in certain shades of blue with a dominant dark blue. The words “Police municipale” must appear in certain places, including on the chest and back, in a fixed font size. There is an arm badge on the top left sleeve. This contains the words "Police municipale", a blue-white-red tricolor, optionally with oak and laurel leaves, as well as the letters "RF" for "République française". The municipality can decide to put the city's coat of arms on the top right sleeve.

The rank badges are:

Municipal Police Officer, Category C:
- Guards stagiaire police chief candidates
- Guard police sergeant major

Municipal Police Officer, Category B:

Chief de service police commissioner
Chef de service principal de 2e classe Chief Police Officer
Chef de service principal de 1st class police chief inspector

Municipal Police Officer, Category A:

Directeur de police municipal Police Council

vehicles

Renault Express of the Pont-Aven municipal police , lettering before 2005

Škoda Octavia of the Morzine municipal police in uniform national lettering and coloring since 2005.

Since 2005, the colors, patterns and lettering of the Police municipal vehicles have been standardized across the country. Until then, they had been at the discretion of the communities.

Armament

At the request of the mayor, the city police can be armed. The legal options for arming have been steadily expanded since the 1990s. As of 2015, municipal police officers can be equipped with tear gas, batons, tasers, rubber bullet weapons (so-called " flashballs ") and handguns. It is true that the city police in many municipalities still do not carry any firearms (as of July 2015, fewer than half of them were armed); In view of the heavily mediated cases in which members of the Police municipale - often unarmed - were victims of brutal violence (including the attacks in Paris in January 2015 ), there is a tendency towards further arming.

Web links

Commons : Police municipale - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b La police municipale. In: collectivites-locales.gouv.fr - Le portail de l'Etat au service des collectivités. Retrieved on February 14, 2015 (French, summary of the mayors' police competencies).
↑ ^a ^b ^c Les agents de la police municipale. In: collectivites-locales.gouv.fr - Le portail de l'Etat au service des collectivités. Archived from the original on February 15, 2015 ; Retrieved on May 8, 2019 (French, summary of the areas of responsibility of the Police municipale ).
↑ ^a ^b Police municipale: Effectifs par commune. In: data.gouv.fr - Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises. June 24, 2015, accessed on August 12, 2015 (French, official figures on the strength of the French municipal police).
↑ ^a ^b Arrêté du 5 may 2014 relatif aux tenues des agents de police municipale, pris en application de l'article L. 511-4 du code de la sécurité intérieure. In: legifrance.gouv.fr. Retrieved April 10, 2017 (French).
^ Les polices municipales. (PDF) Ministry of the Interior (France) , November 2013, accessed on September 11, 2015 (French, brochure with details on armament, conditions of employment, competencies, armament).
↑ Code de la sécurité intérieure - Article R511-12. In: legifrance.gouv.fr. Retrieved September 11, 2015 (French, list of weapon types from the Police municipale ).
↑ Police municipale, un pas de plus vers l'armement. In: La Croix . July 21, 2015, accessed on September 11, 2015 (French).

[collocgouv1-1] La police municipale. In: collectivites-locales.gouv.fr - Le portail de l'Etat au service des collectivités. Retrieved on February 14, 2015 (French, summary of the mayors' police competencies).

[collocgouv2-2] Les agents de la police municipale. In: collectivites-locales.gouv.fr - Le portail de l'Etat au service des collectivités. Archived from the original on February 15, 2015 ; Retrieved on May 8, 2019 (French, summary of the areas of responsibility of the Police municipale ).

[datagouv-3] Police municipale: Effectifs par commune. In: data.gouv.fr - Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises. June 24, 2015, accessed on August 12, 2015 (French, official figures on the strength of the French municipal police).

[arrete20140505:tenue-4] Arrêté du 5 may 2014 relatif aux tenues des agents de police municipale, pris en application de l'article L. 511-4 du code de la sécurité intérieure. In: legifrance.gouv.fr. Retrieved April 10, 2017 (French).

[innenministerium:broschuere2013-5] Les polices municipales. (PDF) Ministry of the Interior (France) , November 2013, accessed on September 11, 2015 (French, brochure with details on armament, conditions of employment, competencies, armament).

[gesetz:bewaffnung-6] Code de la sécurité intérieure - Article R511-12. In: legifrance.gouv.fr. Retrieved September 11, 2015 (French, list of weapon types from the Police municipale ).

[lacroix2015-7] Police municipale, un pas de plus vers l'armement. In: La Croix . July 21, 2015, accessed on September 11, 2015 (French).