National Police (France) - Ranks

Ranks

The National Police is divided into three corps, in the terminology of the French Civil Service, in ascending order of seniority:

  • The Corps de maîtrise et d'application (Authority and Enforcement Corps) corresponds approximately to the enlisted and non-commissioned ranks in a military force, or to constables and sergeants in a British-style civil police force.

  • Brigadier-major

  • Brigadier-chef

  • Brigadier

  • Sous-brigadier, after 12 years of service.

  • Gardien de la paix (keeper of the peace")

  • Gardien de la paix stagiaire (keeper of the peace, intern") 1st year after school.

  • The Corps de commandement et d'encadrement (Command and Management Corps) corresponds approximately to the lower commissioned ranks of a military force, or to grades of inspector in a British-style civil police force. These ranks were previously known as inspecteurs if detectives or officiers de la paix if uniformed, although CRS officers always used the current ranks.

  • Commandant (formerly Commandant or Inspecteur divisionnaire)

  • Capitaine (formerly Officer de la paix principal or Inspecteur principal)

  • Lieutenant (formerly Officier de la paix or Inspecteur)

  • Lieutenant intern

  • Lieutenant student

  • The Corps de conception et de direction (Conception and Direction Corps) corresponds approximately to the higher commissioned ranks of a military force, or to grades of superintendent and chief officers in a British-style civil police force.

  • Directeur des services actifs (Director of the Active Services)

  • Inspecteur général (Inspector General)

  • Contrôleur général (Controller General)

  • Commissaire divisionnaire (Divisional Commissary)

  • Commissaire principal (Principal Commissary)
    Abolished 2006

  • Commissaire de police (Police Commissary)

All the ranks insignia may be worn either on the shoulders or on the chest. In the latter they are square-shaped.

Prior to 1995 two civilian corps ("Inspecteurs" and "Enquêteurs") existed in which plain-clothes officers were given the training and authority to conduct investigations. The closest Anglo-American equivalent is the detective.

The powers of making a full arrest, overseeing searches ordered by the judiciary, etc., are restricted to members of the police or the gendarmerie with the qualification of "officer of judiciary police" (officier de police judiciaire or OPJ). Other officers are only "agents of judiciary police" (agents de police judiciaire or APJ) and have only limited authority, restricted to assisting the officers. However, they can, without the supervision of a OPJ, hearing people and write minutes of interrogations or interventions. and See Law enforcement in France.

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