Judicial Police Officers

( Articles 16 to 19-1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure)

Persons having the status of judicial police officer

   Have the status of judicial police officer:
   1 ° Mayors and their deputies;
   2 ° The officers and officers of the gendarmerie, the gendarmes with at least three years of service in the gendarmerie, nominally appointed by decree of the ministers of justice and defense, after the assent of a commission;
   3 ° Inspectors general, deputy directors of active police, controllers general, police commissioners and police officers;
   4 ° Civil servants of the national police supervisory and enforcement body with at least three years of service in this body, nominally appointed by decree of the ministers of justice and of the interior, after the assent of a commission.

   Persons exercising the functions of director or deputy director of the judicial police reporting to the Minister of the Interior and director or deputy director of the gendarmerie at the Ministry of the Armed Forces also have the quality of judicial police officer.
   The officials mentioned in 2 ° to 4 ° above may not effectively exercise the powers attached to their quality of judicial police officer or avail themselves of this quality unless they are assigned to a job involving this exercise and by virtue of a decision of the Attorney General at the Court of Appeal empowering them personally. The exercise of these powers is temporarily suspended during the time when they participate, as a constituted unit, in a law enforcement operation. When they belong to a service whose competence exceeds the jurisdiction of the court of appeal, the enabling decision is taken by the public prosecutor at the court of appeal of the seat of their function.
   However, the officials referred to in 4 ° may only receive the authorization provided for in the preceding paragraph if they are assigned either to a service or a category of services determined in application of article 15-1 and appearing on a fixed list. by decree of the ministers of justice and of the interior, or, on an exclusive basis, in a formation of a service mentioned by the same decree.
Powers of judicial police officers

Police officers exercise the powers defined in article 14; they receive complaints and denunciations; they carry out preliminary inquiries under the conditions provided for in Articles 75 to 78.
In the event of flagrant crimes and misdemeanors, they exercise the powers conferred on them by Articles 53 to 67.
They have the right to directly request the assistance of the public force for the execution of their mission.

Competence of judicial police officers

   Judicial police officers have jurisdiction within the territorial limits where they exercise their usual functions.
   Judicial police officers, temporarily placed at the disposal of a service other than the one to which they are assigned, have the same territorial jurisdiction as that of the judicial police officers of the reception service.
   In the event of a flagrant felony or misdemeanor, the judicial police officers may come within the jurisdiction of the high courts bordering the court or the courts to which they are attached, for the purpose of continuing their investigations and carrying out investigations. hearings, searches and seizures. For the application of this paragraph, the jurisdictions of the high courts located in the same department are considered as one and the same jurisdiction. The jurisdictions of the high courts of Paris, Nanterre, Bobigny and Créteil are considered as one and the same jurisdiction.
   Judicial police officers may, on the express rogatory commission of the examining magistrate or on requisitions of the public prosecutor, taken during a preliminary investigation or a flagrant investigation, carry out the operations prescribed by these magistrates on any the extent of the national territory. They are required to be assisted by a territorially competent judicial police officer if the magistrate whose commission or requisition they hold so decides. The territorially competent public prosecutor is informed by the magistrate who ordered the operation.
   With the agreement of the competent authorities of the state concerned, the judicial police officers may, on the express rogatory commission of the examining magistrate or on requisitions of the public prosecutor, proceed to hearings on the territory of a foreign state. .
   They may, on the proposal of the administrative authorities to which they depend and by authorization of the Attorney General, receive jurisdiction within the same limits of territorial jurisdiction as those of the judicial police officers whom they are called upon to replace in case of need.
   Judicial police officers or agents usually exercising their mission in vehicles assigned to collective passenger transport or in places intended for access to these means of transport are competent to operate over the extent of the defense zone of their service. of assignment, under conditions determined by decree of the Council of State.

Information of the public prosecutor by judicial police officers

Judicial police officers are required to immediately inform the public prosecutor of crimes, misdemeanors and contraventions of which they are aware. As soon as their operations are closed, they must send it directly the original as well as a certified copy of the minutes they have drawn up; all related acts and documents are sent to him at the same time; the seized objects are made available to him.
The minutes must state the quality of judicial police officer of their writer.