The Compagnies républicaines de sécurité, abbreviated CRS, are the general reserve of the French National Police. They are primarily involved in general security missions but the task for which they are best known is crowd and riot control. There are 60 "general service" CRS companies, specialized in public order and crowd control, nine "motorway" companies specialized in highway patrol in urban areas and six "zonal" motorcycle units Two additional companies and several mountain detachments administratively attached to local companies specialize in Mountain Rescue. One company specializes in VIP escort. The National Police band is also a CRS unit. Some of the CRS officers from the "general service" compagnies are cross trained and serve as lifeguards on the beaches during the summer vacations. The expression "les CRS" refers to the whole force. The feminine singular "une CRS" means a company, but the masculine singular "un CRS" is often used to means "a CRS man"; the press and the man in the street frequently use "CRS" to mean any policeman in riot gear and wearing a helmet, whether he is a true CRS or a policeman or a gendarme mobile. The form "trois CRS" in theory means three companies, but is often used to mean three men.
History
The CRS were created on 8 December 1944, after the Groupes mobiles de réserve were dissolved. The CRS are a civilian corps, trained in anti-insurrection and antiriot techniques. The CRS saw their first serious action during the 1947 strikes in France. Communist sympathisers were highly present in the ranks of some of the early companies. The French Communist Party took on the role of opposition to postwar governments. On 12 November 1947, there was a demonstration in Marseilles called by the communist union CGT and the French Communist Party; some of the local CRS, refused to act against it and several companies were dissolved as a consequence while a few more were reorganized in 1948 to remove communist influence from their ranks. CRS detachments were created in some of the French overseas territories in 1950. The Guadeloupe and Réunion detachments were transformed into companies during the early 1960s but these were disestablished in the 1990s. Up to sixteen additional companies were created in Algeria during the Algerian War of Independence and disestablished at the end of the conflict. CRS equipment and organization have evolved in phases. A major change in equipment followed the May 1968 demonstrations. During the 1990s, the equipment continued to evolve and the CRS were re-equipped with smaller vans to better adapt the companies to the urban environment.
Missions
The "general service" companies, together with the mobile gendarmerie, constitute a highly mobile reserve force for the government. Their missions include:
Providing security during large public events and mass gatherings such as ceremonies, sport events, festivals, concerts, and demonstrations
Patrolling and securing specific areas
Maintaining law and order during demonstrations, riot control
Reinforcing local police forces in their general security missions
Organization
1 Central Directorate under a Director-general of the National Police in Paris
Some of the CRS officers are cross trained and serve as lifeguards during the summer season. They also enforce applicable laws on the beaches. The CRS are based in barracks but, unlike the gendarmes, they live at home when not on the road. A company typically spends more than 200 days per year away from its base town.
Company composition
Most of the "general service" companies have a headquarters platoon and four line platoons each, a few companies having a sixth platoon. A complement of a regular company is as follows:
The suppressive role and occasional abuse of force by the CRS towards protesters or even school children has led to criticisms among human rights supporters. There have also been a number of complaints against CRS officers on the subject of racism and racial profiling. "CRS = SS" was a famous slogan of May 68.
Note on the French mobile police forces
The two French anti-riot forces, the CRS and the Gendarmerie Mobile are often mistaken for each other, as some of their missions are similar, but they can be distinguished by uniform. The uniform of the CRS is blue while that of the gendarmes mobiles is black. The CRS wear a big red CRS patch and their helmets sport yellow bands; the gendarmes have a stylized grenade on their medium-blue helmets. In January 2009, the French state implemented a rapprochement of the police and the gendarmerie. While this policy falls short of a complete fusion or merger, as the gendarmes have kept their military status, this has led to more commonality in terms of equipment for the two forces.
