Direction Centrale de la Sécurité Publique

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A policeman armed with a submachine gun guarding a police station in Paris

Véhicules de Police.

The Direction Centrale de la Sécurité Publique ("Central Directorate of Public Security", DCSP) is the uniformed patrol and response arm of the French National Police (Police Nationale) responsible for keeping the peace and maintaining public order in the cities and large towns of France.

The DCSP consists of over 78,000 mainly uniformed police personnel known as Gardiens de la Paix ("Guardians of the Peace") deployed in 102 Départemental directorates with 462 Urban Offices. They provide general police services, including crime prevention, patrol, and response to calls for assistance. THE DGSP maintains a small plainclothes corps who investigates local crimes; these are organised into Criminal Brigades.

The DCSP also deploys 9 Groupes d'Intervention de la Police Nationale (GIPN), intervention units similar to the RAID team (which is directly under orders of the Direction Générale de la Police Nationale).

There are also dog units, boat units, and an air wing.