A gendarmerie (French) is a military body charged with general police duties. The members of such a body are gendarmes. Many French-speaking countries have a gendarmerie, but the national police of Austria is also a gendarmerie. It is also used as a generic term for any similar force. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is named in French Gendarmerie royale du Canada (GRC).
List of Gendarmerie and similar forces
In Belgium, the Gendarmerie (Rijkswacht in Dutch) was passed to civilian control in 1991. In 2001, the Gendarmerie was suppressed; the Belgian police forces were streamlined into federal and local police forces.
See also