Gendarmerie: attitudes and practices on the roads and villages: an ethnographic approach

• In Event: Police officers’ attitudes and work experience: comparing countries

Abstract

The Gendarmerie Nationale is the law enforcement agency in charge of small towns and rural areas in France. Based on an ethnographic research that included interviews and ride-alongs with gendarmerie patrols in the greater Paris and Lyon regions, it is possible to detect a specific approach to ethics, community relations, the use of identity checks or informal problem solving compared to the French national police, which operates in urban areas. This specificity derives from the territories and the populations the two respective forces police, but also the military status of the French gendarmerie. Nevertheless, the military tradition of discipline, rigid chain of command and solidarity is being more and more discussed internally.

Author

• Mathieu Zagrodzki, Cesdip / University Versailles St Quentin