The Gendarmerie is a branch of the French Armed Forces placed under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Interior , with additional duties from the Ministry of Armed Forces. Its responsibilities include policing smaller towns, suburbs and rural areas, crowd and riot control, and criminal investigation, including cybercrime. By contrast, the National Police is a civilian law enforcement agency that is in charge of policing cities and larger towns.
Because of its military status, the Gendarmerie also fulfills a range of military and defence missions. The Gendarmerie has a strength of around , people as of The Gendarmerie has influenced the culture and traditions of gendarmerie forces around the world, especially in independent countries from the former French colonial empire. The military policing responsibilities of the Marshal of France were delegated to the Marshal's provost , whose force was known as the Marshalcy because its authority ultimately derived from the Marshal.
The Marshalcy dates back to the Hundred Years' War , with some historians tracing it back to the early 12th century.
The constabulary was regularised as a military body in His remains are now buried under the monument to the gendarmerie in Versailles. Under King Francis I r. Despite their connection with the king, they were therefore perceived as a force favoring the reforms of the French National Assembly. During the revolutionary period, the main force responsible for policing was the National Guard.
In turn, two companies of gendarmes under the command of captains were based in each department. This territorial basis of organisation continued throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Subsequently, special gendarmerie units were created within the Imperial Guard for combat duties in French occupied Spain. Following the Second Restoration of , the gendarmerie was reduced in numbers to about 18, and reorganised into departmental legions.
