page_title: Law enforcement in France
section_title: National level
hierarchical_section_title: Law enforcement in France / Organizations / Other agencies / National level
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Mégane de la Douane française, Strasbourg
context_page_description: Law enforcement in France has a long history dating back to AD 570 when night watch systems were commonplace. Policing is centralized at the national level. Recently, legislation has allowed local governments to hire their own police officers which are called the "police municipale".
  There are two national police forces called "Police nationale" and "Gendarmerie nationale". The Prefecture of Police of Paris provides policing services directly to Paris as a subdivision of France's Ministry of the Interior. Within these national forces, only certain designated police officers have the power to conduct criminal investigations which are supervised by investigative magistrates.
context_section_description: Direction générale des douanes et droits indirects, a nowadays civilian customs service more commonly known as the "Douane", under the minister of budget, public accounting and civil servants; its strength is roughly 17,000. It operates mainly on a different framework of the other agencies;
  National Forests Office and other State environmental agencies are the continuation of the Water and Forests military corp founded in 1291 and today under both the Ministry of environment and the Ministry of Agriculture. They have special environment law enforcement and police power that ranges from pollution, hunting, fishing, forests products to nature protection. Its strength was roughly 10,000 in 2007, only counting the National Forests Office;
  Corps of Prison Administration Supervisory Personnel, created by a decree of April 14, 2006. The missions of prison guards are to ensure the execution of sentences, to help ensure the integration or reintegration of detained persons, to ensure public security while respecting the interests of society, the rights of victims and the rights of detained persons.
caption: Renault Mégane of the Douanes
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