Did you know there are two kinds of cops in Paris? The gendarmes, who are part of the army, and the Paris police, who are unionized. The police are national, not local, and most of the cops you see in Paris are not from Paris. If you ask them for directions, they'll puzzle over the map along with you.
In the U.S., the cops are often overweight but tough-looking. They ride around in cars all day, they face criminals with guns, and they've seen a lot. In Paris, they somehow look younger and more naïve. They're usually skinnier too.
There are police on the river
on horseback in the pedestrian zones
on bicycles in the parks (don't try to outrun them; they live for that)
on motorcycles of course
on foot, especially in touristy areas or when there is any kind of demonstration of crowd. They are pretty mellow and usually just watch; I've never seen them intervene, even when people are throwing cherry bombs or being rowdy.
Embassy duty. I always wonder if this is what happens when you displease your superior.
The CRS, or riot police. They are armored and have plexiglass shields. You see them a lot whenever there is a big demonstration in Paris (pretty much every week). When the teachers marched on the education ministry, I counted thirty of their dark blue vans along the boulevard Saint-Germain. There hasn't been any major trouble in Paris since the 2005 suburban riots though.
Yesterday there was a national day of homage to two young policemen killed on the Périphérique (Paris ring road). A drunk driver with no license and multiple convictions was being chased by another police car, and theirs put itself in his path to slow him down. Instead, he ran into them at high speed and killed them instantly. Twelve policemen have died in the line of duty in Paris in the past 20 years. It's a lot, but not compared to any large American city.
" Embassy duty. I always wonder if this is what happens when you displease your superior. "
No, it is what happens when you are on the last ranks of results at the national "concours" to enter the police force. The first ranks can choose their job and the last ones take what is left ie embassy duty.
Fot the death, police is still a safe job compared to construction worker, and I mean percentage of death.
Posted by: Maxine | 27 February 2013 at 15:14
Maxine is right, you get the Embassy or Elysée duty when you don't do well on the national exam. A friend of mine's husband did it for 2 years on the night shift and said it was terrible (boring and really hard on his back).
And same with the ones you see on the streets - they are all young because they are the newbies straight out of school. It's hard work, and most move to another post as soon as they can.
Also, historically-speaking, most of the Parisian cops came from outside of Paris so that they would be less likely to unite and rise up against the government (to fight for a city that was not their own). That is why they are the National Police and not Municipal police. As a side note, Municipal police handle towns with more than 10-20,000 people and the gendarmes handle the towns under 10-20,000 and the countryside.
PS. Just so you know, you're allowed to take pictures of French police, CRS, etc, but you're not really supposed to post them online because of 'droit à l'image'. Journalists get an exception though if the picture is useful for showing un événement d'actualité.
Posted by: k_sam | 27 February 2013 at 17:59
Thanks Sam and Maxine! I've always wondered who gets stuck with that job. Also thank you Sam for the clarifications! I never knew all that. As for the photos, they're from Flickr/Creative Commons where a lot more people will see them than here; but I guess I could blur the faces if anyone complained. Anyway isn't a blog journalism? ;)
Posted by: Sedulia | 27 February 2013 at 18:50
Do they still have police on roller skates? When I lived in Paris I would often see them in tourist areas - a pickpocket had to be very fleet indeed to elude them. And they were always young and looked like they LOVED their work! [Good grades?]
Posted by: Nan | 28 February 2013 at 20:11
Hi Nan! They definitely still have them. They're perfect for all the pedestrian zones and tourist areas. They love nothing better than going after a perp-- I have seen them grinning as they take off. I wonder if they just have to pass a test for fitness, or something else too? There are always at least two of them, though. I've never seen one alone.
Posted by: Sedulia | 01 March 2013 at 02:26
I've seen them on Segways as well (Rueil-Malmaison)
Posted by: CBRetriever | 06 March 2013 at 10:30
Really? How funny! I tend to assume everyone I see on a Segway here is an American tourist.
Where do they go?
Posted by: Sedulia | 06 March 2013 at 15:09
I have no idea where they were going, but they were along the race course (2 of them togather, of course) for the Rueil-Malmaison Semi-Marathon,s oi presume they were acting as security for it. They were right across from the church where Josephine and Hortense are buried, so maybe they were guarding it?
Posted by: CBRetriever | 07 March 2013 at 07:38
Actually, the blue vans (like the one on your picture in the background) are from the Gendarmerie Mobile, the riot and more military-oriented units of the Gendarmerie Nationale. They were created to handle worker unions riots after the use of military units for crowd control went sideways and resulted in many deaths (in the 1800s). The use blue vehicles like the rest of the Gendarmerie.
The CRS have white vans (like the rest of the Police forces)and a slightly different uniform with the white CRS crest on them.
Posted by: Aurelien | 08 March 2013 at 08:10
Oh, thanks Aurélien! I'm not that well-informed on my police and gendarmes, obviously... merci!
I definitely see the blue vans around more than the white ones.
Posted by: Sedulia | 08 March 2013 at 15:24
Just an aside to something noted above about police municipale in towns with a certain population and "gendarmes for the smaller towns"... some smaller towns are now policed by "Police Rurale".
Posted by: Charles | 11 March 2013 at 16:35
I wonder if other countries have so many different kinds of police!
Posted by: Sedulia | 11 March 2013 at 18:07
Why is being a cop so easy in Paris? Our cops are always begging for money each election as they are "short-staffed." I would say the city I live in is pretty safe, but then again we recently had a school shooting in one of the suburbs (second one in the state's history). Anyway, it seems the money they get has been going towards retrofitting their cars with GPS, iPads, and themselves with portable videocameras (I support this).
Posted by: Sagely | 21 June 2014 at 10:29