(, 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