The Direction régionale de la police judiciaire de la préfecture de police de Paris (DRPJ Paris), often called the 36 quai des Orfèvres or simply the 36 (trente-six) by the address of its headquarters, is the seat of the Paris regional division of the Central Directorate of the Judicial Police. Its 2,200 officers investigate about 15,000 crimes and offences a year. The Judicial police (Police judiciaire; abbreviated PJ), is the criminal investigation division of the Police nationale. 36 quai des Orfèvres is often erroneously believed to be the address of the Central Directorate of the Judicial Police, the national authority of the criminal police, which is actually located at 11 rue des Saussaies, in the buildings of the Ministry of the Interior. Since September 2017, DRPJ have their new headquarters at 36 rue du Bastion. This new building concentrated all services (before they were in different places). Only the Research and Intervention Brigade stay at 36 quai des Orfèvres.

History

The PJ is the direct successor of the Sûreté, which was founded in 1812 by Eugène François Vidocq as the criminal investigative bureau of the Paris police. The Sûreté served later as an inspiration for Scotland Yard, the FBI and other departments of criminal investigation throughout the world. In 1907, Georges Clemenceau, who was nicknamed "le tigre" ('the Tiger'), created the twelve "brigades régionales de police mobile", as per the suggestion of Célestin Hennion, then head of The Sûreté as follows: Paris ("1ère"), Lille ("2ème"), Caen ("3ème"), Nantes ("4ème"), Tours ("5ème"), Limoges ("6ème"), Bordeaux ("7ème"), Toulouse ("8ème"), Marseille ("9ème"), Lyon ("10ème"), Dijon ("11ème") et Châlons-sur-Marne ("12ème"). In 1913, the newly appointed Préfet de Police Célestin Hennion, continued the reforms of his predecessor by dividing the police force into three main departments, judicial, intelligence and policy agenda, hence giving the Parisian PJ its current form. Most of the Parisian PJ moved to the Batignolles neighbourhood, in a new building shared with the Tribunal de grande instance, Paris's main tribunal. This project was criticized because of its cost and the historic status of the 36.

Mandate

The Paris PJ comes under the control of the Paris Police Prefecture and operates over its territorial jurisdiction, which includes the city of Paris but also the three adjacent departments of Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne. Under the direction and supervision of the judiciary, it is responsible for the fight against criminality and delinquency and for the implementation of all technical, scientific and operational police resources needed for the inquiries. It investigates cases which involve a large scale of crimes and infractions like drug trafficking, prostitution, racketeering, kidnapping, organised crime (either criminal or financial activities), hostage taking, bomb attacks, sexual assaults, or homicides.

Organization

The Paris PJ services and units are: The DPJ have the qualifications to investigate every kind of crime and infraction committed over their territory, while the central brigades take the most complex cases in their area of qualification and can operate anywhere. Due to the lack of space, only a few services are still located in the historic building of the 36, quai des Orfèvres. Located there are the état-major, the Brigade criminelle, the Brigade des stupéfiants and the BRI. The other brigades and services are spread in several buildings throughout Paris.

In fiction and films

Because of its history and its iconic status within the French police, the 36 and its services have often been described in novels, films and TV series.