The Compagnies républicaines de sécurité (, ''Republican Security Corps''), abbreviated CRS, are the general reserve of the

French National Police The National Police (french: Police nationale), formerly known as the , is one of two national police forces of France, the other being the National Gendarmerie. The National Police is the country's main civil law enforcement agency, with prima ...

. They are primarily involved in general security missions but the task for which they are best known is crowd and

riot control Riot control measures are used by law enforcement, military, paramilitary or security forces to control, disperse, and arrest people who are involved in a riot, unlawful demonstration or unlawful protest. If a riot is spontaneous and irratio ...

. The DCCRS has seven units: in Paris, Lille, Rennes, Bordeaux, Marseille, Lyon and Metz. There are 60 "general service" CRS companies, specialized in public order and

crowd control Crowd control is a public security practice in which large crowds are managed in order to prevent the outbreak of crowd crushes, affray, fights involving drunk and disorderly people or riots. Crowd crushes in particular can cause many hundre ...

, nine "motorway" companies (french: Compagnies autoroutières) specialized in

highway patrol A highway patrol, or state patrol is either a police unit created primarily for the purpose of overseeing and enforcing traffic safety compliance on roads and highways, or a detail within an existing local or regional police agency that is prima ...

in urban areas and six "zonal" motorcycle units (one per Defense zone.) Two additional companies and several mountain detachments administratively attached to local companies specialize in

Mountain Rescue Mountain rescue refers to search and rescue activities that occur in a mountainous environment, although the term is sometimes also used to apply to search and rescue in other wilderness environments. This tends to include mountains with tech ...

. One company (CRS n°1) specializes in VIP escort. The National Police band is also a CRS unit. Some of the CRS officers from the "general service" compagnies are cross trained and serve as lifeguards on the beaches during the summer vacations. The expression "''les CRS''" refers to the whole force. The feminine singular "''une CRS''" means a company (the noun ''compagnie'' is feminine), but the masculine singular "''un CRS''" is often used to mean "a CRS man"; the press and laypeople frequently use "CRS" to mean any policeman in riot gear and wearing a helmet, whether he is a true CRS or a policeman or a '' gendarme mobile''. The form "''trois CRS''" in theory means three companies, but is often used to mean three men.

History

The CRS were created on 8 December 1944, after the '' Groupes mobiles de réserve'' (GMR) (created by the

Vichy régime Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its terr ...

) were dissolved. The CRS are a civilian corps (unlike the

gendarmes Wrong info! --> A gendarmerie () is a military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term ''gendarme'' () is derived from the medieval French expression ', which translates to "men-at-arms" (literally, " ...

, who are military), trained in anti-insurrection and antiriot techniques. The CRS saw their first serious action during the 1947 strikes in France.Robert Le Texier, ''Les Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité'', éditions Lavauzelle, Paris-Limoges, 1981. Communist sympathisers were strongly represented in the ranks of some of the early companies (due to their history of engagement in the

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

, and according to some - due to a desire to practice

entryism Entryism (also called entrism, enterism, or infiltration) is a political strategy in which an organisation or state encourages its members or supporters to join another, usually larger, organization in an attempt to expand influence and expand the ...

).Maurice Agulhon and Fernand Barrat: ''C.R.S. à Marseille 1944-1947'' 6 Armand Collin, Paris 1971. The

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (french: Parti communiste français, ''PCF'' ; ) is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its MEPs sit in the European Un ...

(PCF) took on the role of

opposition Opposition may refer to: Arts and media * ''Opposition'' (Altars EP), 2011 EP by Christian metalcore band Altars * The Opposition (band), a London post-punk band * '' The Opposition with Jordan Klepper'', a late-night television series on Com ...

to postwar governments. On 12 November 1947, there was a demonstration in Marseilles called by the communist union CGT and the French Communist Party; some of the local CRS (a majority of whom were communists at the time), refused to act against it and several companies were dissolved as a consequence while a few more were reorganized in 1948 to remove communist influence from their ranks. CRS detachments were created in some of the French overseas territories in 1950. The Guadeloupe and Réunion detachments were transformed into companies during the early 1960s but these were disestablished in the 1990s. Up to sixteen additional companies were created in Algeria during the

Algerian War of Independence The Algerian War, also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence,( ar, الثورة الجزائرية '; '' ber, Tagrawla Tadzayrit''; french: Guerre d'Algérie or ') and sometimes in Algeria as the War of 1 November ...

and disestablished at the end of the conflict. CRS equipment and organization have evolved in phases. A major change in equipment followed the May 1968 demonstrations. During the 1990s, the equipment continued to evolve and the CRS were re-equipped with smaller vans to better adapt the companies to the urban environment (both in their surveillance and riot control missions).

Missions

The "general service" companies, together with the

mobile gendarmerie The Mobile Gendarmerie (french: Gendarmerie mobile) (GM) is a subdivision of the French National Gendarmerie whose main mission is to maintain public order (from crowd control to riot control) and general security. Contrary to the Departmental G ...

, constitute a highly mobile reserve force for the government. Their missions include: * Providing security during large public events and mass gatherings such as ceremonies, sport events, festivals, concerts, and demonstrations * Patrolling and securing specific areas (borders, suburban areas) * Maintaining law and order during demonstrations,

* Reinforcing local police forces in their general security missions

Organization

* 1 Central Directorate under a

Director-general A director general or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'' ) or general director is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer, within a governmen ...

of the National Police in Paris * 7 Zonal Directorates (one for each metropolitan military defence zone) * 60 "General Service" Companies (for the maintenance of public order) * 1 VIP Escort Compagny (CRS n° 1) * 9 Autoroute Companies (dedicated to

Highway Patrol A highway patrol, or state patrol is either a police unit created primarily for the purpose of overseeing and enforcing traffic safety compliance on roads and highways, or a detail within an existing local or regional police agency that is prima ...

) * 6 Zonal Motorcycle Units * 2 Mountain Companies (Alpes and Pyrenees) - specialized in

* The National Police Band (attached to CRS n° 1) Some of the CRS officers are cross trained and serve as lifeguards during the summer season. They also enforce applicable laws on the beaches. The CRS are based in barracks but, unlike the gendarmes, they live at home when not on the road. A company typically spends more than 200 days per year away from its base town.

Company composition

Most of the "general service" companies have a headquarters platoon and four line platoons (french: sections) each, a few companies having a sixth platoon (french: section des moyens spéciaux) or SMS equipped with special crowd/riot control equipment such as water cannons). A complement of a regular company is as follows: * 1 Company commander with the rank of ''Police Commandant'' (Major). * 1 Police Captain * 2 Police Lieutenants * 1–4 Brigadiers-Major * 12–25 Brigadiers-Chief * 100–120 officers Fourgon Renault autoroutes CRS, Strasbourg - mars 2014.JPG, Van of a motorway company Motos Yamaha CRS - Schiltigheim.JPG, CRS motorcyclists CRS2 Domenjod 2016.jpg, CRS vans and truck during a demonstration - 2016

Criticism

The suppressive role and occasional abuse of force by the CRS towards protesters or even school children has led to criticisms among human rights supporters. There have also been a number of complaints against CRS officers on the subject of racism and racial profiling. "CRS = SS" was a famous slogan of

May 68 Beginning in May 1968, a period of civil unrest occurred throughout France, lasting some seven weeks and punctuated by demonstrations, general strikes, as well as the occupation of universities and factories. At the height of events, which h ...

Note on the French mobile police forces

The two French anti-riot forces, the CRS and the ''

Gendarmerie Mobile The Mobile Gendarmerie (french: Gendarmerie mobile) (GM) is a subdivision of the French National Gendarmerie whose main mission is to maintain public order (from crowd control to riot control) and general security. Contrary to the Departmental Ge ...

'' are often mistaken for each other, as some of their missions are similar, but they can be distinguished by uniform. The uniform of the CRS is blue while that of the ''gendarmes mobiles'' is black. The CRS wear a big red CRS patch and their helmets sport yellow bands; the gendarmes have a stylized grenade on their medium-blue helmets. In January 2009, the French state implemented a ''rapprochement'' ("bringing together") of the police and the gendarmerie.http://www.vie-publique.fr/actualite/alaune/police-gendarmerie-rapprochement-officialise.html Police-gendarmerie: le rapprochement officialisé, January 6, 2009. While this policy falls short of a complete ''fusion'' or merger, as the gendarmes have kept their military status (while the CRS are a highly unionized civilian body), this has led to more commonality in terms of equipment for the two forces.

Notes and references

Bibliography

* Robert Le Texier, ''Les Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité'', éditions Lavauzelle, Paris-Limoges, 1981. * Maurice Agulhon and Fernand Barrat: ''C.R.S. à Marseille 1944-1947'' 6 Armand Collin, Paris 1971. * Jean-Louis Courtois, ''CRS au service de la nation'', C/O Crepin-Leblond, novembre 2004.

External links

La Direction centrale des compagnies républicaines de sécurité
CRS page on the French National police website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Compagnies Republicaines De Securite 1944 establishments in France National Police (France)