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Variety of French Police Models: A Historical Inventory

NCJ Number
150200
Author(s)
M Berges; J-M Berliere; M Vogel
Date Published
1991
Length
41 pages
Annotation
This historical study contradicts the cliche of the "French Model of Policing" by presenting alternative police models which emerged during the French Third Republic.
Abstract
The "French Model of Policing," which evolved from the absolute monarchy, has traditionally been characterized as a highly centralized and repressive agency of the national government. To contradict this facile stereotype, the first chapter describes a more flexible model of police crowd control which is respectful of civil liberties. This model challenged the traditional model of rigorous crowd control at the end of the 19th Century under the leadership of Louis Lepine, head of the Paris police. The second chapter presents alternative models to centralized police organization in the 19th Century; such alternatives included urban citizen militias and autonomous municipal police forces under local supervision. The third chapter describes a great variety of police administration models used in French urban centers from 1884 to 1941. These models, which emphasize a strong municipal police, gradually gave way to police centralization toward the end of the Third Republic.