DCPJ -Central Directorate Judicial Police
Direction Centrale Police Judiciaire

criminal brigade drug squad BRI - Brigade de Recherche et d'Intervention Research and Intervention Brigade brigade to protect minors (BPM) investigation brigade of fraud to information technology (BEFTI) brigade of execution of court decisions (BeDJ) regional intervention groups (GIR)

The interior security of France is the responsiblity of two major forces: the national police force (which is governed by civil statute) which is under the supervision of the Ministry for the Interior, and the national gendarmerie (military police under the supervision of the Ministry for Defense). The principal mission of the National police force, for which it has a specialized organization, is to fight against criminality and delinquency whatever their forms.

Since 1945, the police have undergone two major structural reforms:

• With the law n° 66-492 of July 9, 1966, the legislator ended the duality existing between national safety and the prefecture of Police of Paris by creating the National Police force, while preserving the specificity of the Prefecture of Police of Paris.
• The law n° 95-73 of January 21, 1995 of orientation and coding relative to security, provided the foundations of a vast reform of the national police force.

The Direction Centrale Police Judiciaire (DCPJ) is a major French internal security service which acted as the "public face" of the DST. One of essential roles of the police is the search for infringements of the law, to observe them, to gather evidence, to identify the authors of crimes, and to apprehend them. Acting thus, the police becomes an ancillary to the judicial authority and takes therefore the JUDICIAL POLICE designation.

The Central Directorate of the Judicial Police includes the territorial and central administration of the National Police for the prevention and the repression of the organized crimine and specialized delinquency. Acting on its own initiative initiative or by delegation of magistrates, most of 7,400 officials of the Judicial Police have the grade of Police Officer Judicial. They have a territorial competence either regional or national in scope and implement approaches and techniques of investigation adapted to countering complex and serious criminal phenomena.

Central Directorate of Judicial Police, besides the personnels and administrative divisions, is constituted of operating organs of national competence:

• Sub-Directorate of Police Technique and Science is responsible for implementation of identity techniques, managing the large operating Police files (automated fingerprint file, criminal process information, and searched person files), to process for broadcast of research results and for coordinating the management of the five scientific Police laboratories installed in Paris, Lille, Lyon, Marseilles and Toulouse. These submodules are at the disposal judicial authorities and the entire Police administration.
• Sub-Directorate of Criminal Businesses that includes central offices for the repression of banditry, the traffic in objects and art works, the traffic in arms, explosives and nuclear and chemical substances as well as of the traffic in drugs. It also includes the national brigades for the struggle against the other patterns of crime against persons and goods (terrorism, administrative document traffic and homicides).
• Sub-Directorate of Economic Affairs and Financiers includes, on the one hand, competent central offices concerning repression of the large financial delinquency ("blanchiment" of funds coming from illicit activities) as well as of the false monnayage and, on the other hand, national repression administration of all the other economic and financial infringement categories, counterfeitings and informatics delinquency.
• Sub-Directorate of External Linkings includes structures to transverse competence to the range of the Judicial Police: management of cooperation submodules international operating (Interpol, Schengen, Europol), studies and perspectives, technical administration monitoring, formation and internal communication.

The Central offices and the management of the international cooperation have, each in their specific domain, information and operating coordination by relations to the other national administrations concerned.

The territorial administration of the Judicial Police include:

• A regional Directorate of the Judicial Police (DRPJ) in Paris With 3.400 officials, it is competent in Paris intra-muros and in the three adjacent departments. The DRPJ of the prefecture of Police counts three Sub-Directorates including:
  • central brigades: criminal businesses, banditry, illicit drug traffic and drug addiction, research and intervention, protection of minors;
  • departmental administration and judicial Police divisions: three departmental administrations of judicial Police (adjacent departments of Paris), six divisions of Paris including judicial Police police stations of district or quarter special station police stations;
  • in financial and economic matters, ten judicial delegation staffs with the financial brigade.
• 19 regional administration of judicial Police (SRPJ) installed on the area of the metropolitan territory and in the region West Indies - Guyana, composed, each of technical, criminal and financial divisions. SRPJ have judicial Police detachments as well as, for some of them, particular units (researches and intervention brigades, regional inquiry brigade and coordination).