Surete Nationale

National Police Police nationale
Patch of the National Police.
Motto	Pro patria vigilant
Agency overview
Formed	July 9, 1966
Preceding agency	Sûreté nationale (1944–1966)
Employees	144,000 (in 2011)
Legal personality	Governmental: Government agency
Jurisdictional structure
National agency	France
Size	551,695 km²
Population	67,2 million
Governing body	Cabinet of France
General nature	Law enforcement Local civilian police
Operational structure
Overviewed by	Direction générale de la police nationale
Headquarters	Paris, France
Minister responsible	Bernard Cazeneuve, Ministry of the Interior
Agency executive	Jean-Marc Falcone, Director-General
Directorates	11 Direction de l'administration de la police nationale Direction de la formation de police nationale Direction centrale de la police judiciaire Direction Centrale de la Sécurité Publique Direction centrale de la police aux frontières Inspection générale de la police nationale Direction centrale des compagnies républicaines de sécurité Service de coopération technique internationale de police Service de protection des hautes personnalités Préfecture de Police Recherche Assistance Intervention Dissuasion
Facilities
Helicopters	0 see Sécurité Civile
Website
Official website (French)

The National Police (French: Police nationale), formerly the Sûreté nationale, is one of two national police forces and the main civil law enforcement agency of France, with primary jurisdiction in cities and large towns. The other main agency is the military Gendarmerie, with primary jurisdiction in smaller towns and rural and border areas. The National Police comes under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Interior and has about 145,699 employees (in April 2008).

The National Police operates mostly in large cities and towns. In that context:

The police is commanded by the director-general (directeur général de la police nationale) who is currently Jean-Marc Falcone. The director-general is directly in charge of the General Directorate of the National Police (French: Direction Générale de la Police nationale) (DGPN) and the immediate subordinate of the Minister of the Interior.

The police is then sub-divided into (central) directorates which are composed of sub-directorates :

The Préfet de Police, currently Bernard Boucault (), under direct orders of the Minister of the Interior, manages the Préfecture de Police de Paris which includes all police and security services in Paris and neighbouring départements, those services not being under the control of the director-general. The police forces in the other départements of the Île-de-France region are under the direct command of the Préfet (Département Prefect) in charge, being himself under the supervision of the Préfet de Police as far as the active on-the-field police work is concerned, and under the control of the director-general for the rest.

As of 1 July 2008, the following two National Police directorates:

were merged into one single domestic intelligence agency titled the Direction centrale du renseignement intérieur (DCRI). The DCRI was placed directly under the Ministry of the Interior.