Yes and no. It’s complicated. It’s like the National Guard in that they have a formal military training (and hierarchy) and they also have access to much more extensive ooomph gear than the *police nationale ; *and yes like the Nat. Guard they do general disaster relief, complex rescues (e.g. stranded alpinists) and so on ; but unlike the *gendarmes *the National Guard doesn’t do speeding tickets nor arrests people for example (that I’m aware of).
In France, the *gendarmes *are the cops assigned by the state to places that can’t afford to have their own police. Large cities are covered by the National Police, often also a municipal police if the city can afford it/wants the prestige/wants a police force that answers directly to the mayor (except Paris, which is forbidden from having one for historical reasons - the state doesn’t trust the city it sits in basically, we’re a turbulent and riot-y people :p) while the *gendarmerie *covers all of the two-horse villages, isolated homes & compounds as well as the intercity road, highway & rail network.
All in all they’re the primary police force for 50% of the population and 95% of the territory.
So they’re really a hybrid nat. guard/county PD, if you will. /SWAT, too, since the GIGN is our main hostage rescue/counter-terrorism/bomb disposal/domestic fan de-shitting force. And I believe the *gendarmes *also act as MPs, policing the armed forces from within - but don’t quote me on that one.
But yeah, they don’t do combat deployments at all (that I’m aware of, the closest thing I can think of is the Ouvéa thing). Also, I just checked and there’s apparently ~100,000 of them - so they represent about a third of our armed forces. Even though they’re not *really *that, when it comes right down to it.
Partly, it depends on the situation, and it’s called the prévôté. I understand that basically they’re in charge during significant military operations and for serious criminal matters, but wouldn’t do such things as rounding up drunk soldiers on a regular military base.
Gendarmerie has been handed down a lot of random stuff over the decades, due to its status in-between police and army. Like mountain rescue that you mentioned (there’s also a spelunking unit), or a role similar to that of the US coast guards. There’s an “air gendarmerie” too. And even a parachute unit. They can also have a military role in case of war or serious troubles, like protecting sensitive installations (and they have equipment like armored troop carriers for this kind of situation). The protection of French embassies is also tasked to the gendarmerie. The Republican guard is also part of the Gendarmerie, and apart from looking good on horses they’re actually in charge of protecting building such as the parliament. Gendarmes are also frequently used in peace-keeping missions. And a lot of other stuff I forgot or never knew about.
That said, despite all the specific missions some subdivisions of the gendarmerie has, its main job, that employs most of its manpower is still the countryside and road police. That’s what French people have in mind when they think “gendarmerie”. The guy who will be stopping them on the highway for speeding. And second to that, anti-riot police, with the “gendarmerie mobile”.
Since the AM the French language Belgian RTBFhas reported that Abaaoud was present and the target, but it is not yet known if he has been captured or killed. The RTBF sources were then confirmed by the Procureur’s statement.
This updating since 20 minutes, from around 16h20.
Historically, they originated in military units garrisoned in the French provinces that, besides their military job, were tasked with pursuing criminals and protecting the highways when there wasn’t a police yet.
Over time they became independant from the regular army, while keeping their military status, mode of organization and duties (for instance, most live in buildings besides the station rather than wherever they want, they have ranks identical to those of the regular army, they can be called to work at any time for any duration and won’t get paid any overtime, which is in fact a permanent issue, soldiers from the regular army can be put under their command or the other way around if needed, people could be conscripted in the gendarmerie when there still was a military service, etc…).
In fact the word “gendarmes” (gens d’armes) means men-at-arms, showing their origin.
Breaking news from the BBC – Abdelhamid Abaaoud, mastermind of the Paris attacks and apparently a high-ranking liaison between ISIS leadership and cells in Europe, was among the dead in the Saint-Denis raid.
Copy-paste from the BBC:
***"The suspected ringleader of the Paris attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, has been identified among Saint Denis raid dead, the Paris prosecutor has said.
His body was found riddled with bullets and shrapnel in the building in northern Paris on Wednesday.
The Belgian national, 27, was identified from his fingerprints."***
There’s a part of me that thinks you don’t interrogate rabid dogs, you shoot them.
I’m not sure you’d get much interrogating such a person. There’s no magic way to get someone to talk, and there’s no way to make sure they tell you the truth if they do. On the other hand, if you kill them they can no longer act to threaten others.
I’m not normally in favor of execution without a trial, but if there is an exception to be made it would be in this sort of situation.
