NCJ Number
123785
Journal
Police Studies Volume: 12 Issue: 3 Dated: (Fall 1989) Pages: 125-132
Date Published
1989
Length
8 pages
Annotation
In January 1983 the French national government allowed some French municipalities to form their own municipal police forces to supplement the police services provided by the Police Nationale and the Gendarmerie Nationale. The result was a virtual explosion of small police departments in French communities.
Abstract
When police services are already provided "free" by the national government, why are some French localities using their minimal financial resources to supplement these Federal police services with their own? Although most French towns and cities have not formed municipal police departments, the ones that have are "making a statement" about police services to which the French national government is beginning to listen. What does the future hold for these municipal police agencies? Will the French follow the U.S. pattern of extensive local provision of police services, or will they gravitate back to the 45-year-old tradition of national policing? This paper will consider the future of the French municipal police experiment and its meaning in French politics. 13 references. (Publisher abstract)