The Security Group for the Presidency of the Republic (, GSPR) is the protective security unit in charge of the safety of the

President of the French Republic The president of France, officially the president of the French Republic (), is the executive head of state of France, and the commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces. As the presidency is the supreme magistracy of the country, the pos ...

. Established in 1983, it is part of both the

National Gendarmerie The National Gendarmerie ( ) is one of two national law enforcement forces of France, along with the National Police (France), National Police. The Gendarmerie is a branch of the French Armed Forces placed under the jurisdiction of the Minister ...

and National Police. It is distinct from the

Republican Guard A republican guard, sometimes called a national guard, is a state organization of a country (often a republic, hence the name ''Republican'') which typically serves to protect the head of state and the government, and thus is often synonymous wit ...

, which is in charge of the security of official buildings.

History

In the past, the group was composed of 30 members of the

and 30 members of the National Police, commanded by a lieutenant colonel of the Gendarmerie or a Commissaire divisionnaire de Police, alternately in charge. Since 2019, the Director of the GSPR has been Georges Salinas of the National Police, assisted by colonel Benoît Ferrand of the National Gendarmerie. During the presidency of

Nicolas Sarkozy Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa ( ; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012. In 2021, he was found guilty of having tried to bribe a judge in 2014 to obtain information ...

, the unit was only composed of policemen from the Service de la protection and from the

Recherche Assistance Intervention Dissuasion {{Infobox law enforcement unit , unit_name = Search, Assistance, Intervention, Deterrence , native_name = {{native name, fr, Recherche, Assistance, Intervention, Dissuasion , native_namea = , native_namer = , image ...

(RAID) unit. During his administration, the unit had 90 members because of higher threat levels. No Gendarmerie officers were selected to be in the unit as Sarkozy believed he should not be protected by the military.Special Weapons December 2009 issue, page 50 Gendarmerie officers came back to the unit after the election of

François Hollande François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande (; born 12 August 1954) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2012 to 2017. Before his presidency, he was First Secretary of the Socialist Party (France), First Secretary of th ...

in 2012. In December 2012, there were about 20 gendarmes detached from the

GIGN The GIGN ( ; ) is the elite police tactical unit of the French National Gendarmerie. Among its missions are counterterrorism, hostage rescue, surveillance of national threats, protection of government officials, critical site protection (such ...

. The group has since then been composed of 60 members again.

Equipment

In addition to an extensive fleet, GSPR members are armed with the following weapons: * ASP expandable baton; *

Glock 17 Glock (; stylized as GLOCK) is a brand of polymer- framed, short-recoil-operated, striker-fired, locked-breech semi-automatic pistols designed and produced by Austrian manufacturer Glock Ges.m.b.H. The firearm entered Austrian military an ...

pistol; * Glock 26 pistol; *

Heckler & Koch MP5 The Heckler & Koch MP5 (, ) is a submachine gun developed in the 1960s by German firearms manufacturer Heckler & Koch. It uses a similar modular design to the Heckler & Koch G3, and has over 100 variants and clones, including selective fire, Se ...

sub-machine guns; *

Brügger & Thomet MP9 The Brügger & Thomet MP9 () is a submachine gun chambered for the 9×19mm Parabellum cartridge that is designed and manufactured by Brügger & Thomet. Design The MP9 is a development of the Steyr TMP which was purchased from Steyr in 2001. ...

sub-machine guns; *

Heckler & Koch G36 The Heckler & Koch G36 (Gewehr 36) is an assault rifle An assault rifle is a select fire rifle that uses an intermediate cartridge, intermediate-rifle cartridge and a Magazine (firearms), detachable magazine.C. Taylor, ''The Fighting Ri ...

assault rifles.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Groupe de securite de la presidence de la Republique French Gendarmerie GIGN National Police (France) Protective security units 1983 establishments in France