Paris Police Prefecture

The Paris Police Prefecture, known in French as the Prefecture de police, is a French national government agency that provides policing services across Paris and its surrounding department, operating under the Ministry of the Interior as part of France's National Police rather than as an ordinary municipal force. Established in 1800, it is one of only two prefectures of police in France, the other covering the Bouches du Rhone department around Marseille, created in 2012, and its jurisdiction spans an entire administrative department rather than a single city government's boundaries, reflecting the French system in which policing above the purely local level is organized nationally rather than devolved to city authorities. Because it covers the capital, the Paris Police Prefecture carries specific additional responsibilities not typical of an ordinary department, including significant public order and security duties tied to Paris's role as the seat of France's national government and a major site of public demonstrations. Its structure illustrates a broader difference between the centralized French approach to policing and the more locally organized municipal police departments found in many other countries.