THE GENDARMES.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 4 July 1928, Page 9

THE GENDARMES.

WHO THEY ARE) AND WHO NOT.' BODICE WORK IN FRANCE. The appointment of a new commanding officer to tlie Garde Rcpublieaine draws attention to the fact, which most foreigners ignore, that there is no such thing for person a® a gendarme in Baris. Colonel Miguel, the officer in' question, was indeed until recently a colonel oil' gendarmie; but whiait would be the- geiidariniiei in the- country becomes, in Baris, the ile.giou of the- Garde Rcpuib'lioaine, with a special uniform and magnificent brass helmets and horsehair pilfiimeisi for great occasions; although. it remains part of the force of military cons tabu La.rv for all purposes iv' udiuinisl.Tial.ion and promotion. Most Englishmen still imagine then (i gendarme in Baris is what a policeman would be in London. In fact, not only is tlie gendo.nnerie no t Ton net in Paris, but neither it nor the Garde Republicainc i,s‘ quite a police force. and both are controlled bv the Ministry of War. TWO DETECTIVE FORCES. 'Hie ordinary policeman, with a. cap rather like an English railway guard, is an “agent do vine.” As for what a Frenchman understands by tlie- word “police”—for it also exists in French — it is lather what an Englishman would undoiistand by the detective force. There are, indeed, two such detective’ forces, or even more, and they are under the orders of at least three of the Departments of State. The Minister of Public Works- has tlie railway -police under liis charge. The Minister ore Justice controls the police judicaiire, which is employed in the- detection of criftne, while the Snrete Gen derate, oi i/ioti tieal police , whore function it is- to- discover an cl prevent any attacks upon, the safety of the State, takes its orders -from the Ministry of the Interior. The same Ministry, however, also jias the- general direction. for the whole country of that organisation winch- -is not- police in. the:-special French sense, but is nevertheless. also given the name. The municipalities are locally responsible- -for their police, and this applies even to the- v-illages, where the garde chainipetre is under tlie orders ol the: maire only. In the towns there is u resident commissavre. de police, a nuiior magistrate, who- has "the Police Force under his orders, and: in large towns there are. of course, many coin-; miksaiire-s de police in the several dls-, Diets. In Paris, where there is no inaire-, the co-mmissaires de- police and the: force- as a whole come under a special functionary, the Prefect of Police, .appointed nominally by the -President of the Republic, but still to a certain extent under the order of the Minister of the. Interior. It thus happens that it is to a commissariat de p-4i.ee that a man who- made a disturbance in the .street would l be taken, tiv iiah the men who. took him there would be called agents de ville. As for the gendiainmes, it is in the country districts that they really take an active part in what- in England won 1.1 be called -police work. They_l ide about, the country —aihvays in pairs—and it is to them that a- village maire invariably addresses himself - when the law -lias been broken. For. although the garde chainipetre has powers,of arrest, when lie has put on Ills military-look-ing cap, and has slipped over his shoulder tne broad leather belt with its large oval brass plate—rather suggesting a. Free Forester's sash —he would csertia!n'ly hesitate to take stern measures. He is just a- peasant farmer, like the maire -and the rest of the •‘municipal council”, of the village, a n il a. garde chaim-petre merely in his leisure moments. The gendarmes are -oldiiers—generally corporals or sergeants who have taken up this career after passing out o>f the- active army and it is their business to do dangerous \v -.; k.