Talk:Gendarmerie

Countries missing on the Map
Some countries that us to have gendarmeries in the past are missing. Like Iran for example. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.136.212.12 (talk) 20:30, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

B-class checklist
The B-class checklist has been added. The implication is that I think that the article could be made B-class if references are supplied. PKKloeppel (talk) 13:54, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

Gendarmerie in India?
None of the paramilitary forces listed for India are "a military body charged with police duties among civilian populations." (That's the wikipedia definition) CISF is involved in providing security for government installations such as government-run factories, airports, etc; CRPF is mainly used as riot police. None of these have general policing duties, nor do they conduct investigations, they do not have jurisdictin over civilian population at all! To sum up, India should be removed from this list, and from the map too.. any thoughts? Kmanoj 16:32, 30 October 2007 (UTC)

I have removed the ones listed for India - they are part of the paramilitary forces, they cannot legally intervene in civilian matters, they supplement the army rather than the police, can be deployed only on special activites like anti-insurgency or anti-terrorism operations at the request of the state governments.. Kmanoj (talk) 14:03, 30 April 2008 (UTC)


 * That is wrong. CRPF, Rapid Action Force and Indian Home Guard act as auxiliaries to the Indian Police Service, and not to the Indian Armed Forces. The Indian Constitution also grants the Indian Home Ministry special powers to deploy these paramilitary units under serious circumstances without obtaining approval from state governments. For example, during General Elections, the CRPF does not require state's permission to act. Please do proper research before making edits. Also, the Railway Protection Force too can act across states without permission from their respective governments. --Incidious (talk) 20:32, 5 February 2009 (UTC)
 * I'm surprised that your edits, made in April 2008, have gone unnoticed. --Incidious (talk) 20:35, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

Map
The map is incorrect: Turkey is NOT part of Europe. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.132.12.191 (talk • contribs)


 * Feel free to update it. It's a bit outdated anyway. Mentatus 07:32, 19 April 2007 (UTC)


 * It is definitely outdated, e.g. Chile is mentioned in the list below the map as having a gendarmerie but it is not marked on the map. --Rcgy (talk) 13:33, 26 July 2008 (UTC)

Pronounciation
How do you pronounce it? My computer is not displaying the IPA text correctly. Is it JEN- or GEN-? And which syllable has the emphasis? GENdarmerie? GenDARmerie? 205.174.22.28 23:17, 9 June 2006 (UTC)
 * there is no syllabic emphasis in French.


 * In French, emphasis falls on the first syllable of any word, therefore is GEN-darmerie, which is acceptable but technically wrong in English. When pronounced in English, the emphasis should move to the second syllable, therefore becomes gen-DARM-erie. Mesoso2 16:58, 10 June 2007 (UTC)

Er...what? There is no syllabic emphasis on any part of a word in french (That's my native language) (French language and its accent applied to other languages is famous for its flat tone).

There is on part of a sentence (last syllable of a sentence or or penultimate one if the last syllable is a schwa /ɘ/) — Preceding unsigned comment added by OPAZL (talk • contribs) 11:23, 8 February 2021 (UTC)

USA Gendarmerie?
One could make a valid argument that the United States of America has at least two forces that might qualify as gendarmeries. The more famous such force is the United States Marshals Service. The other type of force would be the Special Weapons and Tactical forces that many major metropolitan police departments maintain.

--Temlakos 13:29, 14 March 2006 (UTC)
 * I wouldn't classify either of those as gendarmeries. They are not military or military-style forces, which is the qualification for being a gendarmerie. Most gedarmeries are actually part of the army. Some, like the RCMP, are not, but the RCMP was still essentially a military police force on its formation, even if it's not any more. Most police forces in the world have heavy tactical units - it doesn't make them all soldiers or even military-style. And I'm not sure why you would classify the USMS as a gendarmerie. I can see no resemblance. -- Necrothesp 17:38, 14 March 2006 (UTC)


 * State Police - the various state police forces in the United States could be gendarmeries due to their paramilitary training, organization and operations.--71.242.127.31 15:44, 28 August 2007 (UTC)


 * "Gendarmerie" seems to have a strong cultural component, for example, as part of the Napoleonic/French tradition. NO state police force in the U.S. has followed this tradition or has referred to themselves this way (an exception might be in Louisiana). Secondly, state police are not a national military organization, and do not take orders from any national military leader. Perhaps a state governor can temporarily arrange this in time of emergency, but I think some official link is necessary to be considered gendarmerie. Finally, there are all sorts of federal law enforcement agencies that, in French, might be called "gendarmerie," but as a borrowed term in English, it is arguably reserved for self-described units. I see that as a huge weakness in the international list, as it includes units that would be translated as gendarmerie in French, but would not be described as such in English publications. Any inclusions (or at least future inclusions) should be cited from an English publication. Cuvtixo (talk) 15:25, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
 * But the french tradition had an enormous impact, also on enemies like prussia. In prussia not only security forces but also teachers (NCOs) were recruited from the army :) And in the US, the I would consider eg texas rangers and alaska state troopers as gendarmerie according to their history and traditions. They had (para)military tasks, and they do some things different from city/county bound civil police: They work often alone without administrational support and cooperation. unification in one body can be tricky (causing frictions) then, as austrians experienced when they united federal police and (demilitarized) Gendarmerie, which also still retained some military traditions and military styled special forces.Rabauz (talk) 10:30, 3 January 2014 (UTC)


 * What about the US National guard? They are definately a military organisation that are often called on to perform policing duties, could they be considered a gendarmerie?
 * their military police components, they act as military Gendarmerie then. National Guard can act as a gendarmerie, but is not a gendarmerie itself. Is there special police training for non military police units in the national guard? Rabauz (talk) 10:30, 3 January 2014 (UTC)


 * I think the question is even broader than the situation in the USA: some countries have 'demilitarised' their gendarmerie (RCMP) or reduced it to a purely ceremonial role (UK - Her Majesty's Bodyguard of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms), while still others have abolished them completely. Perhaps this due to the fact that in certain countries the military can only legally intervene in civilian matters in eg. declared state of emergency - a discussion of these differing legal situations would be an interesting addition to the article.Pacificbiblio (talk) 19:25, 18 December 2007 (UTC)

Military body
"gendarmerie (French) is a military body"

In the case of RCMP, shouldn't we say "paramilitary" or "with military origins"? Apokrif 16:28, 16 March 2006 (UTC)
 * The RCMP is a paramilitary police force, it retains a sort of military status. So paramilitary is cool. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.174.61.193 (talk) 12:19, 26 May 2009 (UTC)

Merge with "Military Police"?
Given the fact that gendarmes fall under the umbrella of military police, might it better serve the reader if these two articles were merged?
 * No. While most gendarmeries are or were military police, they are distinct things. Most military police forces are not gendarmeries, since they do not police civilians. A link from there to here is sufficient. -- Necrothesp 13:48, 27 March 2006 (UTC)


 * The two articles should certainly not be merged. Linguistically, Gendarmes do fall under the umbrella of military police, but the concept of gendarme is very distinctive and should have its own page. The concept of military police, as User:Necrothesp points out, is not that of policing civilians, which is gendarmes' main task.129.12.200.49 09:00, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

Oppose, on the basis that the current article is large enough to stand on its own and thus corresponds to Wikipedia policy of merger vs. separation. For a similar example, see Israeli Military Police. -- Y Ynhockey (Talk) Y 16:36, 4 April 2006 (UTC)

Grenadier not Gendarmerie
I removed the following line:

A common gendarmerie symbol is a flaming grenade, originally the French gendarmerie symbol.

Due to the fact that the flaming grenade is a cap badge and symbol of Grenadier Regiments, and was both British and French.

[This edit added unsigned by 24.12.204.132 16 April]]

If the..
If the U.S. Coast Guard is a gendarmerie, surely the Norwegian border guards and coast guard would be, too. They're both military bodies with police duties over civilians. --Joffeloff 01:08, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

Colombia?
Part of the Army? don't think so... together but not mixed. They are part of the Colombian Ministry of Defense and the army doesn't have any control over the national police. The Colombian Army has its own military police and its military justice. However due to conditions set by the War on drugs and the Colombian Armed conflict, the police force acts almost as a gendarmerie. --''' F3rn 4nd0 BLA BLA BLA 23:22, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

The Carabineros within the CNP are a gendarmerie.--Degen Earthfast (talk) 01:17, 13 October 2009 (UTC)

Rendészeti Biztonsági Szolgálat - a Gendarmerie-type force?
As far as I can understand, the Rendészeti Biztonsági Szolgálat is more similar to the German Bereitschaftspolizei or the French Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité - which in turn are not considered Gendarmerie forces. Mentatus 20:33, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

Posse Comitatus Act of 1878
Does anyone think that the Posse Comitatus Act should be mentioned in this article? It may be relevant as it prevents the regular use of anything like a gendarmerie in the US. Kazhivlad 00:49, 20 February 2007 (UTC)

No it doesn't and it never did nor was it intended too, it always allowed for the US Army to be used as a gendarnerie or constabulary in the west due to the lack of any real law enforcement, and it served to stop the military from enforcing laws that the local sheriffs in the Reconstruction south refused to enforce (for whatever reason). --71.242.127.31 14:06, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

Exactly so as the Army was used as a constabulary force in the old west--71.185.193.98 02:12, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

Poland
The map conflicts the list which cites "Poland: Żandarmeria Wojskowa". --194.204.12.40 16:14, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

Marshalcy
Is marshalcy a real word? I think not. Robbie69 14:03, 24 July 2007 (UTC)
 * it is--Victor falk 14:26, 24 July 2007 (UTC)
 * the fact that it has fallen into disuse does not make it less of a word--Victor falk 14:36, 24 July 2007 (UTC)
 * and anyway, as long as "X" is a dammit forgot the name for that type of noun, "X-cy" is an appropriate derivation--Victor falk 14:39, 24 July 2007 (UTC)

List of Gendarmeries
The map show, shows place like Russia, Belarus, Ukraine without "Gendarmeries", i just want to point out that this is totally wrong and that "OMON", "SOBR" so on or whatever they are today called basicly all the paramilitary police forces of these nations interior ministrys are "Gendarmeries" of sort or another, hell the Russian OMON etc even took a significant role in both Chechen wars and are now actually dominating the scene there instead of conventional police forces.

Let me repeat they are / have para military police forces that are capable both real war combat operations and conventional or low intensity conflict policing, like omon that mass up to battalion strength..

Alone theres more than 20 000 OMON troops alone in Russia today http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OMON and there is scores of other units / groups in russia that have the similar mission and thousands of members, these are not regular police, nor military and not any kind of "swat" outfits even if some of these large units are capable of operating as such also.

One thing i would like to add that while the actual names of these ukrainian / belarus / russian units may or may not be "Gendarmerie" they are in fact ones and that when they actually talk of these units ie in english and have to specify the "type" or "group" of unit they tend to use the term "Gendarmerie" ie for OMON.
 * If you can include citation from any published source, I'd be happy about having these countries included. But, in English news, these forces are usually described as military police forces, or paramilitary, etc. If they, themselves, or international agencies, etc, didn't use the term, (in International English, not French) there would be no reason to include them. Personally, I'd like to remove the list altogether. It causes problems without clarifying the meaning or use of the term. Cuvtixo (talk) 16:23, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

US State Police
Added US State police as they are arguably gendarmerie type forces.


 * It seems to me that Gendarmerie seems to have a strong cultural component, for example, as part of the Napoleonic/French tradition. NO state police force in the U.S. has followed this tradition or has referred to themselves this way (an exception might be in Louisiana). Secondly, state police are not a national military organization, and do not take orders from any national military leader. Perhaps a state governor can temporarily arrange this in time of emergency, but I think some official link is necessary to be considered gendarmerie. Finally, there are all sorts of [federal law enforcement agencies] that, in French, might be called "gendarmerie," but as a borrowed term in English, it is arguably reserved for self-described units. I see that as a huge weakness in the international list, as it includes units that might be translated as gendarmerie in French, but very probably would not be described as such in English publications. Any inclusions (or at least future inclusions) should be cited from an English publication. I am removing " US State Police" until such a citation can be found. Cuvtixo (talk) 15:21, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

Imperial Iranian Gendarmerie
I propose including material on the Iranian Gendarmerie. Agha Nader 23:14, 21 October 2007 (UTC)

I second that. The Iranian Gendarmerie should be included in this. C3045051 06:24, 2 November 2007 (UTC)

Gendarmerie Reputations?
There are so many different Gendarmeries in the world, that the general statement that they have a better reputation than civilian police should be qualified. I am sure that in various countries their reputation is worse given their use in 'crowd control'

"There may also be different reputations, with the gendarmeries generally having a better reputation than civilian police."

Pacificbiblio (talk) 19:16, 18 December 2007 (UTC)

Costa Rica also seems to have a gendarmerie
See:

Civil_Guard_(Spain)

Military_of_Costa_Rica

--201.52.142.243 (talk) 20:13, 16 November 2008 (UTC)
 * ✅ ninety:one 20:33, 16 November 2008 (UTC)

St. Martin has a gendarmerie
When I was in St. Martin, there were Gendarmerie walking around in uniform and driving marked police vehicles. As St. Martin is part of the French Antilles, is that covered under France? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.184.167.3 (talk) 21:06, 6 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Yes it's the Gendarmerie Nationale of France, same body. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.40.4.67 (talk) 19:57, 31 May 2009 (UTC)

Tunisia has a Gendarmerie
Tunisia has a para military force called the National Gard (Garde National) it have station in all city and even rural small village, it operate like police force but within non metropolitan areas. Add it on the map and on the article

[]

chile should be included in the map as the article clearly states it has one gendarmerie —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.140.22.68 (talk) 17:51, 27 January 2009 (UTC)

Confusing French and English term: Gendarmerie
It seems to me that the term Gendarmerie seems to have a strong cultural component, for example, as part of the Napoleonic/French tradition. I think any inclusions of future gendarmeries, if not self-described as such, should be cited from English publications. I realize that many law enforcement agencies around the world could qualify in the technical sense of the word, but frankly it is not a commonly used word in English, and simply transliterating from French does a disservice to both languages. Cuvtixo (talk) 15:44, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

Europe centric article
Seems this article was mostly written by Europeans and Latin Americans. Added more information regarding military police in India to have a better geographical representation. --Incidious (talk) 20:24, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

Hungary should be on the article's map
In the illustration Hungary should be coloured, because it had gendarmerie before 1945. It was called "Csendőrség" and its two-member patrols roamed the countryside, villages and smallers cities, with bayonet bolt action rifles. They were nicknamed "kakastollas" (cock feathered) because they wore crane feathers on their pointed uniform hats. The larger hungarian cities and the capital Budapest had pistol-equipped traditional police forces and generally more liberties.

The hungarian gendarmerie "Csendőrség" was entirely dissolved after 1945 due to its "generally oppressive nature" as seen by the communist occupiers and its alleged cooperation with nazi occupation in the massive deportation of gipsy and jewish people. Since 1946 there is only police service in Hungary, its called "Rendőrség". 91.82.243.75 (talk) 13:37, 3 May 2009 (UTC)

Reorganisation of map with new color.
As there are debates whether certain countries have got gendarmerie forces or not what I suggest is to create another color on the map that means "debatable/uncertain". What do you think? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.174.61.193 (talk) 13:12, 26 May 2009 (UTC)

Bundespolizei is NOT a gendarmerie
Bundespolizei is NOT a gendarmerie (see Bundespolizei)!!!!! 16:55, 24 August 2009 (UTC)16:55, 24 August 2009 (UTC)16:55, 24 August 2009 (UTC)16:55, 24 August 2009 (UTC)85.216.89.205 (talk) 16:55, 24 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Try to provide some sources which support your claim before removing the entry again. ninety:one  18:58, 24 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Try to provide some sources which support your claim before adding an entry.
 * But let's be nice here. I'm not familiar with the subject, but the German version of this article has listed Germany as a former country with a gendarmerie, listing stuff way back in the 1800's as gendarmerie, but nothing recent. This is in obvious conflict with, for example, the map displayed both here and in the German article.
 * In other words: I actually very much agree with you, we do need sources. (Sorry I got frustrated for a second there in my first sentence -- this article has two references! The entire list is absolutely unsourced..!) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.34.118.113 (talk) 17:01, 4 September 2009 (UTC)
 * I concur with Bundespolizei not being a gendarmerie. (see Federal_Police_(Germany)). They are a civilian police force (in training, rank designations, etc.), report to the interior as opposed to the defence minister, and are not the paramilitary counterpart to a civilian police force on the same level. Tschild (talk) 09:45, 25 August 2009 (UTC)

The Bundespolizei was a gendarmerie but now it is a constabulary, that is a civil police force trained and organized along military lines.


 * The Bundesgrenzschutz was a gendarmerie until 1994, while the gendarmerie aspect was gradually reduced before, but it was a dual (para)military and police gendarmerie force throughout the cold war. There was no german army at the border, only special allied forces and german civil forces like the customs service and state police. In some border incidents, this was relevant, also on the baltic sea.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Rabauz (talk • contribs) 01:34, 10 February 2013 (UTC)
 * I have to correct myself I think, Bundesgrenzschutz was a gendarmerie until it was renamed and got a new corporate identity. It was first a paramilitary police gendarmerie, then a police gendarmerie

and now a constabulary, with still some (para)military elements in culture. So there are still some trucks and helicopters neither in police blue nor police green, but in camo green. Rabauz (talk) 10:30, 3 January 2014 (UTC)

Disputed
I added several templates indicating the need for/lack of sources and a disputed template. I know that instead of "drive-by tagging" like this, I should improve the article by correcting it, but as I am not sure what the exact definition of a gendarmerie is (and neither is this article, it seems), I am unable to do so. What I can do is make a general effort to improve the article, which is why I am writing this little explanation -- in the hope that my adding the templates won't just simply be reverted by the next guy that comes along, but in the hope that reliable sources will in fact be added.

If you compare the different language versions of this article, it becomes very clear that they are highly contradictory. This is mirrored on this talk page.

Chances are you were looking at this article and noticed that your country is in fact -- surpisingly -- colored blue on that world map. Well, unfortunately the map does not reflect the table further down in the article, which is one problem. (Not knowing anything about SVG, I can't help out, maybe you can?)

That's not the only problem though, in fact, the bigger issue is that the list of countries is changing rapidly (which is why the map is not up to date). What's the reason? Maybe it's just me, but it seems that the exact definition is unclear (?), and this is causing the trouble regarding the countries' military/police entities that may or may not be gendarmeries.

My opinion is that this page needs a blank slate; the section about gendarmeries in different countries, that is. It needs to be rewritten from scratch with sources (!!) and ideally -- instead of listing the names -- more information about the body's place in its country's political structure, its role, responsibilities, powers and limitations, etc.

The current list is likely inaccurate and does not actually provide much useful content -- to the point that I'm considering simply removing it for now -- the article may be better off without it, for now.

That's just my two cents though, please do go ahead and give me some feedback on this:
 * Do you agree with my view of the current situation?
 * What do you think needs to be done to fix the situation? (Improve current list? Start list from scratch?)

Oh, and by the way, if you decide to remove one of the templates, please state a reason here first. Removing the templates w/o changing the article does not improve the article, and that's what we're trying to do here. --Tom 78.34.118.113 (talk) 17:56, 4 September 2009 (UTC)
 * The map was updated on 14th August - in which aspects does it differ from the table? ninety:one  20:58, 4 September 2009 (UTC)
 * The United States are listed, but not colored. I'm assuming there's more, since the map has seen a total of three revisions (one of which only changed Chile, which was then changed back in the current version). Switzerland, on second look. Ireland is a "former" according to the list. That might be it, but I didn't check too closely.
 * Really though keeping the map and list in sync seems like the less problematic than the fact that the list is unsourced/original research/in many cases actively disputed. --Tom 78.34.118.113 (talk) 01:31, 5 September 2009 (UTC)
 * I went ahead and removed the list section as well as the map. The content I removed is now available here for archiving purposes, i.e., in the hope that it might still be fixed by adding valuable, verifiable information.
 * I don't like the idea of removing content; in general I like to think that "the more the better" and that eventually it will improve. However, as outlined above, I believe that the article is better of without it (for now), and I'm quite happy with its quality now that the list is gone.
 * For the record, here's my justification for removing the list section: It was completely unsourced and actively disputed here on the talk page as well as in contradiction to many non-English version of this article (whether those are accurate is a different matter).
 * It was an inappropriate list with no meaningful content
 * It was in violation of No original research/Verifiability
 * The section was tagged first, showed no improvement (granted, it's only been one weekend) - the removal seems justified. Feel free to improve and reinstate, of course. --Tom 78.34.126.145 (talk) 20:37, 6 September 2009 (UTC)

Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan has internal guard, its a form of gendarmerie, could somebody include Azerbaijan in the map aswell. Neftchi (talk) 19:17, 5 September 2009 (UTC)

List of Countries with Gendarmerie or Gendarmerie like organizations
Someone removed the list of countries that either do possess or had possessed a gendarmerie or a gendarmerie-like police organization. Those who sanctioned its removal felt that it did not incorporate meaningful content. I for one disagree. I feel that that list greatly benefitted this article. And while there may have been some sections within that are controversial, I by no means think that it was worthy of complete and utter removal. Remove the sections there is objection to or a lack of citation, but removing the whole list is ridiculous. I feel that this list should be restored as soon as possible, so it may continue to benefit all those that seek its contents. Please, if you feel the same about this matter, join the protest. Those who removed the list, lets see if we can come to some form of agreement in regards to the list, its form, and exactly what it contains. In regards to what the other language variants of wikipedia contain on the subject, I do not fully understand your reasoning there. If another language's version of wikipedia conflicts with this one, how does that affect this article. Perspectives can vary across cultural and linguistic barriers. I feel that we cannot promote a program of universality throughout all the language variants of wikipedia. This article had already paid the price to bending to such a policy by losing a potentially valuble section, and I do not see how its removal even remotely changes or improves an article in another language. Please, I am open to your suggesstions, explain your reasoning to me, and perhaps we can come to some agreement. Thank you for your time.User:SAWGunner89|SAWGunner89]] (talk) 01:13, 16 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Some jobsworth earlier up the page, but enough WP:s were being thrown about to disincline me to contest it. However, a list of forces named "Gendarmerie" is available at Gendarmerie (disambiguation). ninety:one  18:34, 16 September 2009 (UTC)
 * I think the point was that it was unreliable. No one said that a list wouldn't be of value, just that the current one was extremely dubious, and since it wasn't sourced at all, there was no way to single out any particular "sections". If you'd like a list, go ahead and create one - you could use the old one as a basis and find some sources, that'd be great actually. Unfortunately I don't have the time to do so, but by all means do so if you want to see a list here. 87.78.3.145 (talk) 23:25, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

RCMP status.
I'm sorry but as far as I'm aware the RCMP still has an honorary military status. Could someone include a reference that it does not have an honorary military status anymore?

http://forums.army.ca/forums/index.php?topic=68840.0

The above website confirms that RCMP still has a dragoon regiment status.

Try Dragoon regiment. --209.213.220.227 (talk) 02:11, 18 October 2009 (UTC)


 * The RCMP not only have military status in times of war, they are official called Gendarmes. The force is actually bilingually titled RCMP/GRC, that is Royal Canadian Mounted Police/Gendarmerie royale du Canada. I think that any article on gendarmes should give some prominence to the RCMP/GRC when dealing with specific examples of such forces.


 * --96.50.0.245 (talk) 00:19, 8 August 2014 (UTC)


 * Just to add in there, the RCMP have actually served in the military in multiple wars, from the Boer Wars to both World Wars. 142.122.133.185 (talk) 03:30, 20 December 2019 (UTC)

Guardia di Finanza.
Although I agree that the Guardia di Finanza is an ambiguous force (at least from an international perspective), I don't agree that it should not be defined as a Gendarmerie as the Guardia di Finanza, the Carabinieri and the Polizia di Stato offer general policing duties in Italy. Guardia di Finanza is specialised in customs, finance investigatiosn, drugs, anti-immigration (not border controls though which are done by Polizia di Stato), anti-smuggling and also operates normal police services, you see them operating in cities and although rarely, they can be seen at the stadium or other crowd control situations. The Guardia di Finanza also went to Afghanistan and are still there now to train the Afghanistan Border Police (that has military status). Carabinieri and Guardia di Finanza are militaries and Polizia di Stato are civilians.

Do you agree with slightly changing the phrase? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.140.15.156 (talk) 09:07, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

List of Gendarmerie Forces
2 People's Defence Forces of the Singapore Armed Forces are not gendarmerie. It is a full-fledged combat formation comprised of multiple Army units, including Headquarters elements and two Infantry Battalions. Its role is primarily the defence of key installations and vital areas throughout Singapore. However, it is neither a police force, a paramilitary unit nor does it discharge "gendarmerie-like" duties in the conventional sense of the term as it is understood in the Continental European tradition. — Preceding unsigned comment added by AlphaBet678 (talk • contribs) 12:03, 4 March 2013 (UTC)

South Africa
The South African Police Service has been remilitarized in 2010: http://www.defenceweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6889:222&catid=3:Civil%20Security&Itemid=113 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 95.248.16.152 (talk) 11:24, 13 November 2015 (UTC)

Militarisation of police is not about forming an army, integrating a unit to army that has police duties, but it is about "using military tactics, material and heavy weaponry for policing"

Militarization of police — Preceding unsigned comment added by OPAZL (talk • contribs) 11:10, 8 February 2021 (UTC)

"Zebagna" listed at Redirects for discussion
An editor has asked for a discussion to address the redirect Zebagna. Please participate in the redirect discussion if you wish to do so. signed,Rosguill talk 18:28, 19 August 2019 (UTC)

Role
Since gendarmerie assures the same roles as police "maintaining law/order" are they not a police force? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A01:E34:EC12:36C0:C46A:CEA0:F5E0:C273 (talk) 18:10, 31 January 2021 (UTC)

Rewriting the article
Reading it seems like Gendarmerie is mostly a traditionnal appelation rather than anything else. Gendarmerie are under the command of armed forces (or maybe not).

In France Gendarmerie has "military status" (their work ours are not limited like a civilian typical 38 hour week (as of now since it used to be 35 hours back before)). They are not part of the army, they do not train for armed force fights. They are under the command of ministry of defence. They however use the same ranks as army (well some polices used military ranks, and many polices have at least partly ranks similar to army ones). Their missions are traditionally in country side. But now it's became common to send them also in cities (notably in Paris) where they sometimes can be seen. There is few that prevents them to intervene in cities, but their affected to country side per default. In France "regular" policemen are under the 'ministry of interior'.

In Switzerland police might be called "police" or "gendarmerie" depending on the canton. (And federal police is called "police"). But none of these units has military duties, or is under military command or status. They all are under Cantons' authority.

Royal Irish constabulary was deemed officially to be a gendarmerie by the governement "because not under the command of army" (while other forces called "gendarmeries" were all under military command) (It also looked like an army and fought in small scale warfare.) French governement refered to it as "Irish Gendarmerie" however, It would use civilian ranks.

For mexican units "only two of the seven units of the federal police" would constitute gendarmerie says the article (but here it says that mexican federal police is fully a gendarmerie). However only one of them "the gendarmerie division" uses "gendarmerie" in its name.

For Portugal "the National Republican guard" like "militsya" in communist varsaw pact countries is a police force in peace, but at war it becomes a military force and becomes subordinated to armed forces. However it is always organised like a military force.

Turkish gendarmes, and police are both under the same ministry, the ministry of interior

Koevoet seem to be a state militia or an army branch rather than anything of a law enforcement agency.

Russian imperial gendarmerie seems to be a Gengarmerie

Algerian gendarmerie is litterally calqued on the French Model, as is Centreafrican gendarmerie.

Israelian gendarmerie is under military command.

Some countries seem to have only a gendarmerie force as Jordan and Vatican.

The statusses of said "Gendarmeries" are so variable...that it it'b be either better to rewrite the article. Because the definition, given links, and mentionned units sometimes fit in the definition, sometimes do not. Gendarmerie is often using marechausée which is said to be the french unit from which police came. (The word being used by Dutch Gendarmerie). Some units that may constitute gendarmerie are not using the word.

Many units also use gendamerie as an honorary title, also some police units could be called gendarmerie. In some countries there is no distinction.

The definition needs to be changed...

A gendarmerie (/ʒɒnˈdɑːrməri, ʒɒ̃-/) is a military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term gendarme (English: /ˈʒɒndɑːrm/) is derived from the medieval French expression gens d'armes, which translates to "men-at-arms" (literally, "armed people").[1] In France and some Francophone nations, the gendarmerie is a branch of the armed forces responsible for internal security in parts of the territory (primarily in rural areas and small towns in the case of France) with additional duties as military police for the armed forces.[1] It was introduced to several other Western European countries during the Napoleonic conquests.[2] In the mid-twentieth century, a number of former French mandates or colonial possessions such as Lebanon, Syria, the Ivory Coast, and the Republic of the Congo adopted a gendarmerie after independence.[3][4] A similar concept was introduced in Eastern Europe by establishing Internal Troops, that exist in many countries of the former Soviet Union and their former allied countries.

The growth and expansion of gendarmerie units worldwide has been linked to an increasing reluctance by some governments to use military units typically entrusted with external defence for combating internal threats.[1] A somewhat related phenomenon has been the formation of paramilitary units which fall under the authority of civilian police agencies. Since these are not strictly military forces, however, they are not considered gendarmerie.[5]

Some of the more prominent modern gendarmerie organizations include the French National Gendarmerie, Spanish Civil Guard, Argentine National Gendarmerie, Italian Carabinieri, the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee, the Portuguese National Republican Guard and the Turkish Gendarmerie.[5]

"A gendarmerie (/ʒɒnˈdɑːrməri, from french /ʒɒ̃daʀmɘri/) is a title used by some law enforcement forces, that often use a military status. Those units are often based, inspired, adaptated or even "calqued" from the French eponym unit. They may be part of military, independent from it, or be a sub-unit of the military or incoporated to this one. They may be more or less similar in terms of: tactics, weaponry, status; to military troops. In some countries, such as Algeria or France they are traditionally used in country side. Many forces bear the name Gendarmerie in ex-french colonies or european countries. It was also introduced to several Western European countries during the Napoleonic conquests.

They are rapproched with internal troops in Eastern or Soviet union countries. In some countries the appelation still is used.

The term gendarme (English: /ˈʒɒndɑːrm/) is derived from the medieval French expression gens d'armes, which translates to "men-at-arms" (literally, "armed people")."

Other appelations for units refered to or considered as gendarmeries include "Marechausee (Netherlands), Carabineros (Spanish speaking countries), Carabineris (Italy), Internal Troops, Civil Guard

--OPAZL (talk) 16:02, 9 February 2021 (UTC)

The pronunciation given for gens d'armes is implied to be Old French but looks more like Modern French. David Bofinger (talk) 14:44, 14 March 2023 (UTC)