In August 2019, I spent three weeks in the Loire Valley with the Saint-Jean-de-Monts gendarmerie.Saint-Jean-de-Monts is a tourist resort on the French Atlantic coast with 9,000 inhabitants. Many vacationers come to Saint-Jean-de-Monts, especially in the summer months of July and August. The town has countless campsites, restaurants and a beach promenade. The bars there are particularly popular with tourists at night time.
Due to the large number of tourists, the gendarmerie in Saint-Jean-de-Monts receives reinforcements from the "mobile gendarmerie" (roughly comparable to the riot police), the equestrian squadron of the "Garde républicaine", "reservists" (retired gendarmes) and the German police during the high season. The main areas of operation are theft, requests for help from tourists, traffic monitoring and, at night, aggression by drunk tourists.
Special operations
A major fireworks display is held in Saint-Jean-de-Monts every year in August. An elaborate security concept has been drawn up for this, including restricted zones throughout the town center. The military was also called in due to the latent threat of terrorism. The military patrolled the entire beach promenade with long guns. This reminded me once again how present the issue of terrorism is after various attacks in Europe and especially in France.
Traffic monitoring is also a focus of the gendarmerie's work in Saint-Jean-de-Monts, as many tourists drive under the influence of alcohol.
Sad cause for action
I'll always remember one of my missions involving the suicide of a 63-year-old French tourist. The woman was on vacation at a campsite with her seven-year-old grandson. In the early hours of the morning, she hanged herself in the awning and was found lifeless by her grandson. Delivering the death notice to the daughter of the deceased was particularly difficult, as she was also informed that her seven-year-old son had found his grandmother and was currently hospitalized for psychological treatment. In addition to establishing the facts on site, looking after the seven-year-old boy proved to be a particular challenge.
Background on the gendarmerie
There are interesting differences between the gendarmerie and the police (Police Nationale). The gendarmerie is part of the military and is structured differently for this reason. A gendarme does not work a fixed number of hours per week. Their working day often consists of on-call and fixed patrol times. Gendarmes must always expect to be called out to an operation during their on-call time. They therefore live in gendarmerie apartments and houses on the barracks grounds or in the immediate vicinity. This enables them to intervene quickly.
In busier periods, the gendarmerie draws on so-called "reservists" to increase its personnel strength. These are retired gendarmes who help out their active colleagues, particularly in the summer months. However, young gendarmes also have the option of accepting a reservist contract in order to study at university, for example. The young reservists are then free to return to active service at any time.
Conclusion
I had the impression that all the colleagues I met in Saint-Jean-de-Monts were proud to be "gendarmes". I was warmly welcomed by my colleagues at the station and they made me feel like I was part of their "brigade". Merci pour cette expérience! Je reviens!
