Talk:Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité

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1) The CRS uses the same names of ranks as the rest of the police. 2) They are not "heavily armed", except in riot control operations, where they wear standard riot control gear. David.Monniaux 20:43, 16 Dec 2004 (UTC)

They certainly used to use military ranks. Maybe they've changed, but I've read an official French history stating that they did. And the CRS officers I've seen patrolling in Paris have certainly been carrying heavier weapons than other Paris police officers, including the Gendarmerie. I come from a country where the police are usually unarmed - I notice these things! -- Necrothesp 13:43, 17 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Historically, indeed, the CRS used military-sounding ranks. However, there was a general reorganization of the police ranks some years ago, with the whole national police being restructured in 3 corps, the middle of which has 3 ranks: lieutenant, captain, commander. I heard that this is a source of mild contention with the French Gendarmerie, because, apparently, the level of responsability of somebody bearing the title "captain" or "commander" in the Police is about that of the inferior rank in the Gendarmerie.

As for the weaponry: the CRS is used for a variety of missions. One of these missions is riot and crowd control, and for this mission the CRS generally wear helmets, shields etc. (see riotsquad) This is not what is commonly referred to as "heavily armed". In more normal missions, they tend to be armed like many police forces in the US and elsewhere: truncheon and a handgun.

Still, if you compare to the Gendarmerie, I think that the Mobiles are those that have the heavier stockpile – including FAMAS.[1] Plus, they have some armored personal carriers and a few light tanks. Of course these are seldom seen.

(Little bit of trivia: I've attended street protests faced with Mobiles.) David.Monniaux 18:58, 17 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Fair enough. I didn't know about the rank reorganisation. As far as "heavily armed" is concerned, I think we're at cross purposes. I come from Britain, where to see any armed police officer is still a talking point and cause for amazement (and long may it continue!). When I said heavily armed, I actually meant that they appeared to be carrying heavier calibre handguns and larger batons then ordinary police officers, not that they had armour, automatic weapons and/or armoured vehicles. I saw a pair on patrol in the Tuileries a few years ago and their guns certainly seemed to be bigger than those carried by other police officers that I saw (but then again, I'm no expert). -- Necrothesp 11:49, 21 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Another point: the CRS wear blue uniforms with big CRS logos, as can be easily seen on the photograph. Those who wear black uniforms are mobile Gendarmes. These mobiles are heavily armed. David.Monniaux 19:56, 17 Dec 2004 (UTC)

"the CRS wear a big red CRS patch; the gendarmes have stylized grenades" exchanged 'stylicized' for 'stylized' as there's no such word as 'stylicized' --ahpook 10:31, 11 November 2005 (UTC)