Municipal Police (France)

The Municipal Police (French: Police Municipale) are the local police of towns and cities in France outside the capital. There are 18,000 municipal police officers in 3,500 communities. The Municipal Police are one of the three components of French policing, alongside the National Police and the National Gendarmerie, with about 145,000 police and 98,000 soldiers respectively. Municipal policing in departments of Paris, Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis, and Val-de-Marne is the responsibility of Paris Police Prefecture, part of the National Police.

Under Article 21 2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the duties of the municipal police include:

The municipal police may carry out arrests as part of the act and are required to deliver any perpetrator to an officer of the national police or the national gendarmerie.

Approximately 18,000 municipal police officers provide about 13% of the total French law enforcement community.

The municipal police may also incorporate the duties of the forest rangers and game wardens (gardes champêtres) in rural areas.

The French municipal police are under the direct authority of the Mayor, who is charged with significant powers of police administration, according to the regulations in Article L. 2212-2 du Code général des collectivités territoriales (CGCT) (2212-2 of the General Code of Territorial (CGCT)) with a responsibility to ensure good order, safety, security, and public health, and also to provide an administrative function, known as the "police power of the mayor. "

Although the word "police" refers to the maintenance of order, the function mainly comprises the protection of citizens from disasters, and the task of regulating traffic and parking. To do so, municipalities are required to establish municipal police services, under the authority of the mayor for the task of enforcing local bylaws.

To implement the mayor's responsibility, municipalities can create appropriate services and hire two types of agents: the municipal police, the functions and status are discussed in this article, and Garde champêtre whose employment is often created in rural areas.

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