french gendarmerie

8/10/2019 French Gendarmerie

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- Military missions

Even in peacetime, the Gendarmerie takes part in the protection of particularly important places that can be of vital

interest for the nation. It exercises the government control over the nuclear armament and provides the escorts of th

nuclear weapons convoys. Moreover, it contributes to the preparation of the mobilisation of sister units and to the

management of the reserves. Finally, the Gendarmerie accompanies the French armed forces stationed or committe

abroad military criminal police) and is included in peace missions (both military and civilian) all over the world, at the

request of the United Nations or the EU.

In time of crisis or war, the strength of the Gendarmerie can be more than doubled with reserve units. Its ability todecentralised action, its presence near vital structures, its means of communication make the Gendarmerie one of th

main factors in the operational defence of the territory.

Organizational structure

In 1950 (Decree of 6 January), the Gendarmerie was placed under the direct authority of the Ministry of Defence. Th

organization, personnel management and defence missions were answerable to the Ministry of Defence. In 2002

(Decree of 15 May), the Institution was also placed under the authority of the Ministry of Interior. Article 3 stipulated

that regarding homeland security missions, the Ministry of Interior is responsible for the use of Gendarmerie nationa

units. For this purpose this Ministry, in conjunction with the Ministry of Defence, defines the missions of the units othe

than the ones related to criminal investigations (which are under the ministry of justices responsibility). It sets up a

guideline regarding these missions and their implied organization.

The 1st January 2009, a new Bill attached the budget and the staff management of the Gendarmerie to the Ministry

Interior.

On July 1, 2005, the Gendarmerie nationale reorganized its chain of command, thus fitting with the States reform

process. It is now organized into 22 regions matching with the 22 administrative ones.

Each regional commander is responsible for the units located in his region and is directly subordinated to the

Gendarmerie nationale general directorate. The Gendarmerie mobile units are now subordinated to the regional

commander who deals with the Gendarmerie forces in the whole defence zone.

Territorial Gendarmerie

Favouring the contact with the population, the territorial Gendarmerie (Gendarmerie dpartementale) contributes to

the general public security.

The territorial Gendarmerie includes

- Territorial units:


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- Recruitment:

Applications files can be submitted all year long. Information concerning the careers can be obtained from the

recruitment and information centres or from all the basic command units.

- Training :

Each year, among 30,000 personnel from all ranks are trained in one of the ten national Gendarmerie training

schools (located in Melun, Montluon, Chaumont, Chatellerault, Libourne, Le Mans, Rochefort, Montargis, Tulle,

Chteaulin) or in one of the ten technical training centres (high studies, international training, foreign languages,

criminal investigations, motorcycles, mountain, canine units, scuba diving or maintenance of law and order trainingcentres). These centres were set up to perfect the training of the whole staff from the institution, whether they are

specialists or not. Four schools are to be closed September, 1st , 2009 (Libourne, Montargis, Le Mans, Chtellereau

International relations

In an international context where, far from our borders, the threats influence

directly domestic security, the international co-operation must be increasingly

efficient. In this respect, the Gendarmerie plays an essential role on the

international scene.

At the European level, the EU constitutes the major framework of the international

action of the Gendarmerie within the 3rd pillar Police and judicial Cooperation in

Criminal matters (PJCC) and 2nd Politics pillar common foreign and security

policy (CFSP). In this spirit, the Gendarmerie took an active part and contributed

to the preparation of this great international appointment which constituted the

French presidency of the European Union in the second half of 2008.

By the means of the European Commission financing the program to prevent

and fight against criminality (ISEC), the Gendarmerie contributes as organizer or

partner to European actions or seminars relating to topics linked to its fields of

application (cyber-criminality, maritime pollution , training of integrated police

units). It also carries on technical assistance through the implementation of

institutional twinning with the new Member States of the European Union (Lithuania, Bulgaria, Romania) or with

countries, like Ukraine.

(programs TACIS and PHARE and now IPA and ENPI). As far as police co-operation is concerned, the Gendarmerie

also registers its action on a worldwide scale through its participation in OIPC-Interpol. Lastly, other multilateral

organizations (G8, UNO, the Council of Europe, African Union) also requested the expertise of the Gendarmerie, i

particular in the field of civil crises management.

At the international level, the Gendarmerie works in the direction of a greater police co-operation in order to strength

our domestic security. Since 2002, it has been taking part, with the national police force, in the single network ofhomeland security attaches (ASI) within our diplomatic representations abroad. This single network is placed unde

the authority of the Service of international technical co-operation of police force (SCTIP). On December 31, 2007, th

Gendarmerie was providing 16 homeland security attaches and 11 homeland assistants security attaches (ASIA). It

also deploys liaison officers.

Following the example of the liaison officer itinerant criminality within the Romanian ministry of interior, or the liaiso

officer affected within the general command of the Italian Carabinieri, a liaison officer organized criminality was

posted in Malaga (Spain) in summer 2007 and another in April 2008 on the theme fights against the narcotics in

Portugal, in Lisbon, within MAOC-N.


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Lastly, since summer 2005, the Gendarmerie has been providing a senior officer, within the regional pole of fight

against the criminality organized in the South East Europe, located in Zagreb (Croatia). This interdepartmental

structure, created on the initiative of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, allows the Gendarmerie to play an essential role

the fight against organized crime in the Balkans. The geographical priorities of the Gendarmerie meet the following

criteria: geographical proximity (border countries), cultural proximity (FIEP countries), the return in domestic security

(Balkans) and countries where the institution can develop its model and its domains of excellence. In addition to its

collaboration with the SCTIP, the actions of the Gendarmerie abroad are identified through a continuous dialogue wit

the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the ministry of Defence. Each year, nearly 700 foreign trainees are trained in the

schools and training centres of the Gendarmerie and more than 110 short term missions of experts or trainers of theGendarmerie are carried ut abroad.

At the multinational level, the Gendarmerie is also very present abroad on theatres of operations: under the UN flag

(FINUL in Lebanon, MINUK in Kosovo, MINUSTAH in Haiti, MONUC in democratic Republic of Congo, ONUCI in

Ivory Coast), the EU flag (MPUE and EUFOR in Bosnia, EUBAM Rafah in Palestine, EUPOL Kinshasa in DRC,

EUPT in Kosovo), NATO flag (Afghanistan), or under national command (Ops Licorne in Ivory Coast and Epervier in

Chad).

On the whole (operations abroad aka OPEX, ASI, detachment, cooperation), the Gendarmerie deploys abroad

approximately 1000 gendarmes permanently .

The website: http://www.defense.gouv.fr/gendarmerie/
http://www.defense.gouv.fr/gendarmerie/

french gendarmerie

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