French Gendarmerie

In France, the Gendarmerie Nationale is the national military police force. Its missions include:

Related Topics:
France - Military police

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• The policing of countryside areas and of small towns, usually populations under 10000, outside of the jurisdiction of the French National Police.
• 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.

See gendarmerie for similar forces in other countries.

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While administratively a part of the 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 judges. Its members operate in uniform and exceptionally in plainclothes.

Related Topics:
Armed forces - Ministry of Defence - Ministry of the Interior - Judges

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Career gendarmes are either commissioned or non-commissioned officers. The lower ranks consist in auxiliary gendarmes on limited-time contracts.

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The gendarmerie is sometimes unofficially referred to as the maréchaussée (an old name for the service), and the gendarmes as pandores.

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The officer school of the Gendarmerie Nationale is located in Melun.

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

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French Gendarmerie: The Gendarmerie Départementale ►