The Declaration of Human Rights and the Rights of the Citizen of 1789 defines a legitimate public force, "instituted for the advantage of all and not for the particular benefit of those to who it is entrusted". In France, this public force is formed of three entities: the National Police, the National Gendarmerie and the municipal police forces; since 2009, the first two have been placed jointly under the authority of the Minister of the Interior. The municipal police forces come under the remit of the mayors.

The National Police is formed of around 140 000 civil servants. This is a State police force whose jurisdiction ranges from maintaining order in urban areas to legal inquests and providing information, not forgetting supervision of public demonstrations or beaches via the CRS corps (Republic Security Companies).

The National Gendarmerie is formed of around 100 000 soldiers who are usually charged with operations to maintain order in suburban or rural areas. The areas covered by the National Gendarmerie thus concern 95% of the territories and 50% of the population. Their missions are similar to those of the National Police. Some special corps are well-known to the general public: the Republican Guards, who are responsible in particular for guarding the Presidency of the Republic, and Intervention Group of the National Gendarmerie, an elite corps that intervenes in extreme situations.

The municipal police forces are created by certain town councils and group together agents (civil servants or otherwise) who are in charge of carrying out police missions under the authority of the mayor, like "proper order and public safety and health" (General Code of the Territorial Collectivities). Depending on the wishes of the mayors they are under control of, the job of these police forces can range from local support to a more explicit mission of fighting petty crime, armed or unarmed.