French Police Authorities

[Ted]

Hey guys,

I just wanted to know what you guys think about your police system. I've just been to Paris and I were very impressed by the Gendarmerie and Police. Is the Gendarmerie liked in France or is it seen more negative? And what are the differences between the Gendarmerie (military) and the Police Nationale?

Greetings from Germany
Ted

[MaxLam]

1. The Gendarmerie is much more respected than the Police Nationale.

2. The Gendarmerie is mostly in charge of the countryside, and therefore it covers most of the French territory. However, you can find some gendarmes in the cities too. For example, the gendarmerie mobile is often sent to deal with dangerous or violent situations. Activists and rioters are usually much more affraid of the mobile than of their police counterpart, the CRS.

3. Unlike the Police, the gendarmes are not allowed to set up professional unions. Thus, they have harder working conditions, but they are also less influenced by politics. This can partly explain why people like them more.

4. As a military force, the Gendarmerie could possibly intervene in foreign countries as it used to do a long time ago. It has been discussed to send the Gendarmerie in Mali, as it has some experience in maintaining order in urban areas.

5. Some special units of the Gendarmerie have worldwide fame: the GIGN and the Garde Républicaine.

[Cara]

1. The Gendarmerie is much more respected than the Police Nationale.

So true, I see this everyday. Few weeks ago I was on patrol in a train and we heard a little girl saying "Oh mum it's the police i'm afraid" and his mother said back "Don't worry it's the gendarmerie, they are the good cops" :p

 Max said everything and I will juste say one more thing : due to our military status, discipline and cohesion are way more present in the Gendarmerie, we have a lot of illustrations of this in the streets or from the victims. We are then always pro-talk before violence and so bad guys know that if we stop speaking, it will be way more harder than the police. (legally speaking we have more possibilities)


Oh and btw MaxLam, we had some gendarmes on the field in Mali (gendarmerie prévôtale and de l'Air) and still in Centrafrique. And this is only for the "mediatic" operations

[NevralgiK]

1. True, and that's sad.

2. Aha, i don't think so. CRS are more impressive on the "battlefield" against rioters... And, at my point of view that's just a communication problem that's why our Gendarmerie is more liked than our Police Nationale... (I really dunno how to put a argument in english at this hour)

3. Yeah because they are militaries but i don't think they work on 24/7 every day of the year... And it's the same as police for "influenced by politics" (Prefet, Ministry, etc etc). Don't be blind about that.

4. As a part of the gouvernement like Gendarmerie, police can do some foreign mission like in Afghanistan (Form Afghan Police)

5. Well, Police have The Raid (With ex GIPN members) and they protect our president.

For me you can't compare Gendarmerie and Police Nationale they don't have the same system... One is for our countryside and other is for our cities. They don't have the same population.

Drama Here

Don't hate Police they do there job everyday and some of them die or being injured for our "Paix de la République".
No drama here. It's right, i prefer Police than Gendarmerie.

[close]

[Ted]

Well I personally liked the guys from the Gendarmerie very well. I've been to the Musée de l'Armée two times during my stay and at some point had a brief talk with two of the Gendarms and I personally liked them very much. Hell they even made a good joke about me as german guy visiting their museum for the second time, like "So you want to see the german failures in the WWs again?"     I still didn't really talk to ppl of the Police Nationale.

So Carabino is member of the Gendarmerie? My respect to you  Do you have to stay for an amount of time (dunno like 10 years) or can you just stop working with it and find another job if you want to?

Merci for your answers 

[Bernt]

Spoiler

[close]

 

[Ve_Oudinot]

Spoiler

[close]

 

Le vieux Peugeot Expert :3

[DHDraker]

Peugeot > all

[NevralgiK]

Estafette!

[Cara]

Yep une bonne vieille estafette comme on utilise encore en instruction (normalement en croisant les doigts plus trop en brigade)

So Carabino is member of the Gendarmerie? My respect to you  Do you have to stay for an amount of time (dunno like 10 years) or can you just stop working with it and find another job if you want to?

Yes ! I joined this year in the Reserve : it means after your basic training you are at the lowest rank and for week-ends or important stuff. I will stay there for two years to learn on the field and then pass the Officer exam (leutnant)

To answer your question you can make you whole carrier in the gendarmerie (from 18 yo to 57), you can leave anytime (except just after the school) but it really depends, most people do their entire time in it, and then get a job because at 57 you are still young :p
It's not like in the Army with their 5 years contrats etc

[Ve_Oudinot]

Yep une bonne vieille estafette comme on utilise encore en instruction (normalement en croisant les doigts plus trop en brigade)

So Carabino is member of the Gendarmerie? My respect to you  Do you have to stay for an amount of time (dunno like 10 years) or can you just stop working with it and find another job if you want to?

Yes ! I joined this year in the Reserve : it means after your basic training you are at the lowest rank and for week-ends or important stuff. I will stay there for two years to learn on the field and then pass the Officer exam (leutnant)

To answer your question you can make you whole carrier in the gendarmerie (from 18 yo to 57), you can leave anytime (except just after the school) but it really depends, most people do their entire time in it, and then get a job because at 57 you are still young :p
It's not like in the Army with their 5 years contrats etc

J'avais des Tepee en instruction
C'est comme ces casquettes c'est dépassé maintenant...

[Fixou]

5. Some special units of the Gendarmerie have worldwide fame: the GIGN and the Garde Républicaine.

My father work in the Garde, and yes the gendarmerie have more respect than the police.

[DHDraker]

Globalement, 84% des Français interrogés ont une bonne opinion des 100 000 gendarmes de France (83% en 2012) alors que 71% (67% en 2012) disent avoir une bonne opinion des 120 000 policiers

J'aurais pensé que c'était l'inverse car les gendarmes représentent davantage l'autorité que la Police mais les sondages parlent d'eux même et par conséquent vous semblez avoir raison

[Cara]

J'avais des Tepee en instruction
C'est comme ces casquettes c'est dépassé maintenant...

Tristesse :p Enfin les casquettes on les pleure pas !

[John F. Kennedy]

Globalement, 84% des Français interrogés ont une bonne opinion des 100 000 gendarmes de France (83% en 2012) alors que 71% (67% en 2012) disent avoir une bonne opinion des 120 000 policiers

J'aurais pensé que c'était l'inverse car les gendarmes représentent davantage l'autorité que la Police mais les sondages parlent d'eux même et par conséquent vous semblez avoir raison

On a pas tous un problème avec l'autorité