The Hell is a Gendarmerie?

[Lonestar]

Just curious, Wiki defends it as a Military force intended to enforce the law on a civilian population, and it seems that quite a few European and Latin American countries have them. So gar as I know the UNited States doesn't have a "true" Gendarmerie.


What's up with that? Do Gendarmeries roll around in tanks or something?

[KrazyHorse]

They're paramilitaries. Sort of like a SWAT team that's got its own organisation.

They're more heavily armed than regular cops (automatic rifles instead of pistols), wear military style uniforms and drive around in jeeps, humvees etc. instead of cop cars.

Basically, they're the sort of thing I'm glad English speaking countries don't have.

[BeBMan]

"Gendarmerie royale du Canada" = Mounties

[Sandman]

Originally posted by KrazyHorse
Basically, they're the sort of thing I'm glad English speaking countries don't have.

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by BeBro
"Gendarmerie royale du Canada" = Mounties

Yeah, they're also called "mounted", but don't ride around on horseback except for special occasions.

They used to be more of a gendarmerie back when they were formed. They policed the frontier. As time went on they transformed into simply a national police force.

[lord of the mark]

'He was a gendarme
In the gendarmerie
Going Oh La La La
Oh La La La La
He was a pimp
In a black beret
But he was an artiste
In his own way
Oh La La La
Oh La La La La
When they raided my club that night
They ruined my act with the leather umbrella
the Chief de Police got a fright
He was up in my boudoir with some other fella
It's only routine
But I got this feeling
It ain't good for business'

10CC - Un Nuit a Paris

[Lawrence of Arabia]

La gendarmerie in switzerland is not a paramilitary force, or a swat type force either.

[LDiCesare]

In France, gendarmerie is a police force, except they are military. Although they have other misions, in particular military police, they are exactly like cops, including equipment. They wear a different shade of blue but that's about it.
They are more specifically charged of security on the roads, and are often the only police available in the countryside. They cover the whole territory whereas police nationale only exists in cities.

[Dr. A. Cula]

In Romania, the gendarmes are the people that get called whenever the regular police gets beat up.
They usually show up (wearing masks) at riots and gang fights, when the police is overwhelmed. They also serve as deterrent (sp?) at large public gatherings.

This is a recent development for gendarmerie, though. Before WWII they were nothing more than rural police. They performed the same functions as city police, except they wore different uniforms and their standard weapon was a rifle with a bayonet (sp?).

[Sirotnikov]

Israel has the border guard forces.

They are an army branch serving under the police general command.

They basically serve as the young brute force for all types of police tasks, where as real policemen are usually fat, old and lazy.

Border guards would guard and perform tasks in the occupied territories - sometimes just like regular army forces, and have counter terrorism training.

They can also patrol dangerous areas in cities.

They would often guard in large crowd events. They would usually use some force to capture suspects or stop a riot, while the actual officers handle the procedural part of the arrest. They consist a special force called YAMAS - special patrol unit.

The border guards have several elite units comprised of career professionals, who are considered the best in most types of hostage rescues, counter terrorism tasks, covert entrapments and arrests.

from wiki:

The Border Police has four SF units: Yamam (Counter-Terror and Hostage Rescue unit), Yamas (Counter-Terror Undercover Unit), Yamag (Tactical Counter-Crime and Counter-Terror Rapid Deployment Unit) and Matilan (Intelligence Gathering and Infiltrations Interception Unit).

[Az]

you confused YASAM and YAMAS

They consist a special force called YAMAS - special patrol unit.

this is YASAM.

Yamas (Counter-Terror Undercover Unit)

this is YAMAS

[DAVOUT]

The first serious organizational step of the Gendarmerie was taken in 1720, under the name of “Maréchaussée”, covering the whole country by 800 brigades of cavaliers. In theses times, the word Gendarmerie was reserved to the Heavy Cavalry of the Maison du Roi, and it is the reason why, in 1791, the Maréchaussée, reorganized by the Revolution as all royal institutions were, was renamed Gendarmerie Nationale. In other words, gendarmes of today are called gendarmes because prestigious cavaliers were called gendarmes in 1609, under Henri IV, or possibly sooner. The job of the Gendarmerie Nationale is to defend the law, and the buttons of the uniform are engraves by : “Force à la loi” .
The Garde Républicaine, made of two infantry regiments and the last French cavalry regiment, is included in the Gendarmerie Nationale.

Police under military status has been adopted by many countries.

http://www.fiep-asso.org/common/activities/index.htm

[Ned]

If you play Medievel Total War II, you will quickly find out that they began as the elite cavalry of the French. Heavily armored nobles.

They were the French tanks of the battlefield well into the gunpower era. See the below description of the Battle of Blenheim (1704), where the John Churchill defeated the French despite heroic feats from the French heavy cavalry.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Blenheim

[Dr Strangelove]

Gens d'armie literally means Men-at-Arms.

[notyoueither]

damn