CHAPTER IV: Provisions applicable in municipalities with a state police force

The State police system may be established in a commune according to its security needs. These needs are assessed with regard to the permanent and seasonal population, the location of the municipality within an urban area and the characteristics of crime. It is established by joint order of the competent ministers when the request comes from the municipal council or, in the event of the latter’s agreement, by decree in…

The commune resulting from the merger of two or more communes or the creation of a new commune is subject to the State police system where, prior to the act pronouncing the merger or the creation of the new commune, the State police was instituted on the territory of at least one of the former communes.

In municipalities with a state police force, the state police forces are responsible, in particular, for enforcing the mayor’s police orders.

The responsibility for repressing breaches of the public peace, as defined in 2° of article L. 2212-2 and placed by that article as a general rule in the hands of the mayor, falls to the State alone in communes where the police are state-run, except in the case of neighbourhood disturbances. In these same communes, the State is responsible for good order when there are occasional large gatherings of men….