26 Sep 16 08:57, you wrote to Joe Delahaye:

 HG>> So the gendarmes are probably military polices, or just soldiers.

 JD>> Or perhaps the State Police.  I believe there is a Gendarmerie (sp)
 JD>> in France. Perhaps it is something like the British Bobby?

 HG> I have always thought that an english Bobby is a patrolling police,
 HG> creating a sense of safety in a neighbourhood, and helping citizens
 HG> and tourists.

 HG> Since nobody frenchspeaking person appears here, I think we will have
 HG> to leave the question of what a french gendarm is or does, open.

since i'm the one that tossed the term out there, please allow me to post
some clarification of the term...


genúdarme
'ZH„nd„rm/
noun
noun: gendarme; plural noun: gendarmes

    1. an armed police officer in France and other French-speaking countries.
    2. a member of a body of soldiers especially in France serving as an
armed police force for the maintenance of public order
    3. police officer
    4. a rock pinnacle on a mountain, occupying and blocking an arˆte.

Origin
mid 16th century (originally denoting a mounted officer in the French
army): French, from gens d'armes 'men of arms.' Sense 1 dates from the late
18th century. back-formation from gensdarmes, plural of gent d'armes,
literally, armed people.

Synonyms
bobby [British], bull [slang], constable


=====


A gendarmerie or gendarmery is a military component with jurisdiction in
civil law enforcement. The term "gendarmerie" is derived from the
medieval French expression gens d'armees, which translates to "armed
men".[1] In France and most Francophone nations, the gendarmerie is
the branch of the armed forces responsible for internal security during
wartime.[1] This concept 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 Syria
and the Republic of the Congo adopted a gendarmerie after
independence.[3][4]

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 defense 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, Italian Carabinieri, and Spanish Civil
Guard.[5]


[1] Lioe, Kim Eduard. Armed Forces in Law Enforcement Operations? - The
German and European Perspective (1989 ed.). Springer-Verlag Berlin
Heidelberg. pp. 52-57. ISBN 978-3-642-15433-1.
[2] Emsley, Clive. Gendarmes and the State in Nineteenth-Century Europe
(1999 ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 52-57. ISBN 978-0198207986.
[3] Deep, Daniel (2012). Occupying Syria Under the French Mandate:
Insurgency, Space and State Formation. Cambridge University Press. p. 204.
ISBN 978-1-107-00006-3.
[4] Clark, John; Decalo, Samuel (2012). Historical Dictionary of Republic
of the Congo. Lanham: Scarecrow Press. pp. 44-49. ISBN 978-0-8108-7989-8.
[5] Kumar, Kuldeep. Police and Counterinsurgency: The Untold Story of
Tripura's COIN Campaign (2016 ed.). SAGE Publications India. pp. 90-94.
ISBN 978-9351507475.


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