The National Police, formerly known as the Sûreté nationale, is one of two national police forces, along with the National Gendarmerie, and the main civil law enforcement agency of France, with primary jurisdiction in cities and large towns.
France, officially the French Republic, is a unitary sovereign state and transcontinental country consisting of territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories.
A police force is a constituted body of persons empowered by the state to enforce the law, protect property, and limit civil disorder.
Sûreté nationale is or was the name of the national police in several Francophone countries:
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The other main agency is the military Gendarmerie, with primary jurisdiction in smaller towns and rural and border areas.
National Police Week 2010 Candlelight Vigil by TheNLEOMF
The National Police comes under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Interior and has about 145,699 employees.
The National Police operates mostly in large cities and towns.
In that context:
it conducts security operations
under the orders and supervision of the investigating magistrates of the judiciary, it conducts criminal enquiries, serves search warrants, etc.; it maintains specific services for criminal enquiries.
In an inquisitorial system of law, the examining magistrate, is a judge who carries out pre-trial investigations into allegations of crime and in some cases makes a recommendation for prosecution.