gendarmerie

Well, since 2009, the Gendarmerie receives its budget and orders from the Ministère de l'Intérieur.

The migration started in 2004, when the Gendarmerie was faced with providing all its users with access to its internal network.

Incidentally, I've always been a bit baffled by the Gendarmerie units in many Central and Southern European countries.

When the Met(ropolitan Police) or Gendarmerie Nationale or Carabinieri raid a property, the terrorists they are looking for have only household improvised weapons.

For gendarmerie based stuff that requires special software (taking depositions for example), of course it is handled on Ubuntu because they have no choice.

It's taking the French Gendarmerie a decade to transition to Ubuntu.

I imagine that IT costs are a small portion of the gendarmerie or police's budget.

The gendarmerie even has their own Linux distro for their workstations.

Sure there is no longer conscription, is not as if a gendarmerie can just quit for a job elsewhere in the industry if they prefer OSX.

The French Gendarmerie as a pretty good IT department.

The gendarmerie has been on Linux for years.

Plus that in Europe, the powers-that-be have largely wanted to avoid revolutions, which means that the public's access to firearms as well as right to self-defence is restricted and police, gendarmerie and similar organisations have true monopoly on (lawful) violence.

Rewording: Half France police is "Gendarmerie", which is an army corps, and unions are illegal in the army.

There was a clash of culture since the "gendarmerie" was more like military and police more like armed civil servants.

Gendarmerie is not "national police"; they are different entities (and of course they hate one another).

The [1]'s article wording is a bit wrong, "Gendarmerie" is not "French national police".

Gendarmerie is a part of the military but acting as a police force mostly in rural areas.

This is NOT the Police but the Gendarmerie, one of the four military bodies along with the navy, the army and the air force.

Gendarmerie is the police for rural areas.