Central Directorate of the Judicial Police
The Central Directorate of the Judicial Police, abbreviated DCPJ, (French: Direction centrale de la Police judiciaire) is the French national judicial police responsible for investigating and fighting serious crime. It is part of the National Police service of France.
Mission and responsibilities
The DCPJ is responsible for fighting serious crime nationwide, either with its central services that are of national competence (OCTRIS, OCLCO, SDAT, etc) or through its regional directorates.
Its responsibilities and focus evolved over time. In 2009, were directly mentioned:
- Crimes against persons and properties
- Missing persons
- Arms trafficking
- Fugitives
- International fraud
- Prostitution
- Art trafficking
- Stolen vehicles and documents
- Terrorism
- Drug trafficking
- Money laundering
- White collar crime
- Counterfeiting
- Cybercrime
Organisation
The DCPJ is itself divided into sub-directorates:
- The sous-direction de la lutte contre la criminalité organisée et la délinquance financière (SDLCODF) – Organised and financial crime sub-directorate.
- The sous-direction Anti-terroriste (SDAT) – Anti-terrorist sub-directorate.
- The sous-direction de la lutte contre la cybercriminalité – Cybercrime sub-directorater.
- The sous-direction de la police technique et scientifique (SDPTS) – Police Technical and Scientific sub-directorate.
- The sous-direction des ressources, de l'évaluation et de la stratégie (SDRES) – Resources, evaluations, and strategy sub-directorate.
But a major part of PJ in France is actually composed by territorial services (DIPJ/DRPJ).
It has a strength of 5,200 employees.
History
The first national judicial police was created in 1907 by Georges Clemenceau and Célestin Hennion. The Brigades régionales de police mobile (Regional Brigades of Mobile Police). They were also called Brigades du Tigre (Tiger Squad), "le Tigre" being the nickname of Georges Clemenceau. The logo of the DCPJ figures a tiger and the silhouette of Clemenceau.