Law enforcement in France

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Law enforcement in France is centralized at the national level.^[1] Recently, legislation has allowed local governments to hire their own police officers which are called the police municipale.^{[1][citation needed]}

There are two national police forces called "Police nationale" and "Gendarmerie nationale". The Prefecture of Police of Paris provides policing services directly to Paris as a subdivision of France's Ministry of the Interior. Within these national forces, only certain designated police officers have the power to conduct criminal investigations which are supervised by investigative magistrates.