| Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité | |
| Common name | Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité |
| Abbreviation | CRS |
| CRS patch | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1944 |
| Employees | 13,000+ |
| Legal personality | Governmental: Government agency |
| Jurisdictional structure | |
| General nature |
|
| Operational structure | |
| Headquarters | Paris, France |
| Minister responsible | Claude Guéant |
The Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité (CRS) (English: Republican Security Companies) are the riot control forces and general reserve of the French National Police. The CRS were created on 8 December 1944 and the first units were organised by 31 January 1945. The CRS were reorganized in 1948. The task for which they are best known is crowd and riot control and re-establishment of order.
The expression les CRS refers the whole force. It would be understood in the feminine plural insofar as the noun compagnie is feminine, but is typically used in the masculine to refer to the troops, most of whom are male (thus, masc.pl.). In French slang un CRS (masc.sg.) may mean "a CRS man".
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The CRS, created 8 December 1944 and reorganised in 1952, are a civilian corps (unlike the gendarmes, who are military) trained in anti-insurrection techniques following the dissolution of the Groupes mobiles de réserve (GMR) created by the Vichy régime. While Communist sympathisers were highly present among their ranks (which explains their history of engagement in the Résistance, and according to some due to a desire to practice entryism), a purge limited their number after the French Communist Party (PCF) took on the role of opposition to postwar governments – following a demonstration in Marseille (12 November 1947) called by the CGT union and the PCF that the CRS, a majority of whom were Communists, refused to repress, several companies were dissolved and the CRS were reorganised so as to remove Communist influence among their ranks.
CRS missions include:
The CRS are grouped in units living in barracks. They generally operate away from their base town.
The two French anti-riot forces, the CRS and the Gendarmerie Mobile are often mistaken with each other, as their missions are similar, but they can be distinguished by uniform. The uniform of the CRS is blue (usually dark blue); the uniform of the gendarmes mobiles is black. The CRS wear a big red CRS patch; the gendarmes have stylized grenades. In January 2009, the French state implemented a rapprochement ("bringing together") of the police and the gendarmerie.[1] While this policy falls short of a complete fusion or merger, at least for now, this is likely to lead to more sharing of missions and less distinction between CRS and Gendarmes Mobiles in future.
There are currently 61 companies; most of these companies have four platoons each, and others have six platoons. The 4-platoon companies contain:
Their suppressive role and occasional abuse of force [3] towards protesters[4][5] or even school children [6] has led to criticisms among human rights supporters. There have also been a number of complaints against CRS officers on the subject of racism[7] and racial profiling.