Question about Police in Paris, France?

Question

Okay, I'm working on a project for a creative writing class. Story takes place in both Spain and France.

With regard to Paris, France...what do the police call themselves? I've tried to look it up and keep finding an organization called "Prefecture of Police." But is that how they actually introduce themselves?

Here in the US, a police officer will say something like "Detective Smith, New York Police Department."

If it was a cop in Paris, would they say, "Detective DuBois, Paris Prefecture of Police"?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks! :-)

K

Answer 1

Prefecture de Police is the name of the national police place, where you send people to be interrogated, renew your visa, change your car license, and get other papers done.



Just to give you an outline about the French police. There's three kinds.

National police (police nationale)

City police (police municipale)

Gendarmerie (military police)



The first has all the rights of a policeman all over France. Your equivalent would be the FBI on a smaller scale



The second is considered an adjunct to the first, limited to their city, reporting to the mayor and to the police nationale and the gendarmerie and whose role is to keep the peace. In case of crimes they hand everything to the police nationale or the gendarmerie and just give a hand. As far as I know they don't have detectives.



The Gendarmerie is a military unit, born of the royal policemen and peace keepers of the pre-revolution. It has the same rights than a policeman all of France.



So, all that said, a cop in Paris would say : Detective Dubois, police nationale

or Detective Dubois, police

If you want to use a gendarme, you give the rank.

Lieutenant Dubois, Gendarmerie nationale



Or to make things even more complicated, the policemen (not the gendarmerie) can instead give the name of their department. Brigade criminelle for crimes/murders, brigade des Stupéfiants for drugs...



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_enforcement_in_France



They never say which city they are from as both police and gendarmerie are a national unit.



PS: Never put a capital letter in the middle of a family name in France. This is Canadian spelling, not French. So Dubois, not DuBois.

Answer 2

The police call themselves the police. It's a French word originally. Usually they'll just say "Police," unless it's in a more formal context, in which case they might give their name and title, as in the U.S.



They may also say "police nationale," and inspectors or detectives are "officiers de police judiciaire."

Answer 3

i think policemen introduce them-self saying "police nationale", as i know, they rarely say their name

the "prefecture of paris" run policemen in paris (there is no municipal police)