The Portland daily press., 1881-10-27
The Police of Paris.

The Police of Paris is under the direction of
Perfect, who is appointed by the Minister of
the Interior, and who is required to reside at
the Prefecture, which stands on Quai de l'Hor
loge adjoining the Palace of Justice and the
Prison of the Conciergerie. He has under his
orders force of 1000 policemen in uniform,
q officers of the peace, so Distsict Commiss-
toner's of Police, (Commissaires;) 500 detec-
tives, and anumber of agents secrets, or private
paid informers, known only to himself and to
the two or three principal members of his staff.
This staff consists of the Directors, Sub-Direc-
tors, and clerks of IL sections, each of which
transacts special class of business; thus, there
is the Bureau des Estrangers, Bureau de la
Snrete Generate, Bureau des Garnis, (for the
supervision of hotels and lodging-houses) and
SO on. For administrative purposes, Paris is
divided into 20 wards (arrondissements) and SO
quarters. Each ward has force of about 325
policemen, commanded by an officer of the
peace, and each quarter Police station, man
aged by a Commissaire. The officer of the
peace is the Captain of the Police corps in his
ward; he wears silver-laced uniform and
sword, ranks with Captain in the Army, and
!"
us much superior to an English Superintend
ent. He is never chosen from the ranks OF the
Police SergeantS, but is generally selected from
what one may call the upper or gentlemen de-
tectives of the Prefecture or else from among
the secretaries and clerks to the Directors.
His pay amounts to about E200 a year, and ne
is lodged in the Marie of his ward, where he is
provided with comfortable suit OF apart
ments, with coal and gas free. His duties are
to superintend the men of his brigade, to go
rounds of inspection in order to see that they
are on their beats, and on important occasions,
when great crowds have to be kept in order or
when riots have to be suppressed, he takes
command of his brigade in the streets. Three
times day he sends reports to the Chief OF the
municipal Police at the Prefecture concerning
all that has occurred within his ward. In ad-
ditition to the brigades in the 20 wards there
Is Brigade Centrale'' of 250 men and an
officer, who, like the A Division of the London
Police, form reserve available for special
duty As the area and population OF Paris are
barely equal to those of London, the 600 Par
isian policemen form stronger force than the
ten thousand and odd who guard tho English
capital; and we must add to them the gend-
armes and Republican Guards, whO though un-
der the orders of the Minister of War, may
really be described as mounted Police. The
Partisan policeman, who used to be called ser.
gent dc UilLe, but is now termed guardian de la
pain, has nothing to do beyond keeping order
in the streets. 1t is the Republican Guards
who escort prisoners in the cellular vans from
the jails to the law courts, and stand by them
in the criminal docks; who attend at theatres,
sasinoes, and all places of public amusements;
and who line the streets whenever there is any
pageant. On the race-courses soldiers are gem
orally pressed into service to keep the course
clear, and thus policemen are never diverted
from their regular beats and duties. It is con-
sidered SO important that policeman should
learn to know all the people in the district
where he is stationed that mans beat 10
scarcely ever changed. The average term of
service in the force is 15 years, and during that
time man will have to walk, daily and night
ly, the same set of streets, till he knows the
face of every man, woman, and child in the To-
cality. By day, each policeman walks singly;
by night they always go in pairs, at least in the
populous quarters Their pay begins at G56
year, and rises gradually to ESQ.