The French National Police reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

French National Police

The National Police (Police Nationale) is the main law enforcement agency of France, the other main one being the Gendarmerie. It is run under the Ministry of the Interior and has about 150000 employees.

The National Police and the Gendarmerie have sole competency for arresting suspects, serving search warrants, and conducting enquiries (under the supervision of the judiciary). In some cases, customs officers may also have those competencies.

Local police forces operated by communes (cities and towns) do not have 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 central directorate for public security (DCSP)
• the Directorate of Territorial Security (DST)
• the central directorate of the border police (DCPAF)
• the central directorate of general information [renseignements généraux] (DCRG)
• 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)

Security in the Paris area is the domain of the Paris Prefecture of Police.

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