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(, but often translated to 'safety' or 'security') is, in some French-speaking countries or regions, the organizational title of a civil police force.


Algeria

The Directorate General for National Security is known in French as the Sûreté Nationale.


Belgium

The VSSE is known by its French name, Sûreté de l'État.


Canada

The provincial police force of Québec is called the Sûreté du Québec.


France

The French National Police was formerly called Sûreté générale and then Sûreté nationale.


History

The Sûreté nationale, or Sûreté, began as the criminal investigative bureau of the (Paris Police Prefecture) and did not function as the national command and control organization until much later, by which time it no longer had any detectives on its staff. Both the Paris Police Prefecture's Brigade Criminelle and the Direction centrale de la Police judiciaire trace their history directly to the Sûreté. The French Sûreté is considered a pioneer of all crime-fighting organizations in the world, although London's Bow Street Runners, founded 1749, served a similar purpose at times. Founded in 1812 by Eugène François Vidocq, who headed it until 1827, it was the inspiration for Scotland Yard, the
FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...
, and other departments of criminal investigation throughout the world. Vidocq was convinced that crime could not be controlled by then-current police methods, so he organized a special branch of the criminal division modelled on
Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...
's political police. The force was to work undercover and its early members consisted largely of reformed criminals. By 1820 – eight years after its formation – it had blossomed into a 30-man team of experts that had reduced the crime rate in Paris by 40%. On 23 April 1941, the French police was nationalized under the Vichy regime, and each branch was placed under the prefect. The term ''Police nationale'' ("National Police") was then first used – with the sole exception of the Paris Police Prefecture. This organisational name was used during the Fourth and Fifth French Republic. On 9 July 1964, the previously independent police in Paris were placed under the Sûreté nationale and 10 July 1966 saw the final reorganization into the National Police in its present form.


Notable original members

* Eugène François Vidocq – founder and first chief


Morocco

The national police force of Morocco is the Sûreté Nationale.


Switzerland

''Sûreté'' is the name of the detective branch of the cantonal police of the French-speaking
cantons of Switzerland The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the Federated state, member states of the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. The nucleus of the Swiss Confederacy in the form of the first three confederate allies used to be referred to as the . Two important ...
.


Notes


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Surete Law enforcement in France National Police (France) Defunct law enforcement agencies of France