Gabriel Nicolas de la Reynie

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Gabriel Nicolas de la Reynie is considered to be the founder of the first modern police force.

Born in 1625 in Limoges, France to a poor family, Gabriel Nicolas made a wealthy marriage in 1645 and took the name of Reynie, a minor lordship with an annual income of 200 pounds. He was a magistrate at Angouleme, then president of the court at Bordeaux. He avoided entanglement in the Fronde (the last rebellion carried out by the nobles of France against the King) and acted as intendant to the governor of Guyenne, Jean Louis de Nogaret de La Valette, Duke of Épernon, who introduced him to court.

Reynie managed the fortune of the duke without forgetting his own: in 1661, he bought for 320 000 pounds the office of Maître des requêtes to the King's Council. Jean-Baptiste Colbert, minister to the King, inaugurated the new office of Lieutenant General of Police of Paris in 1667, an office which Reynie held for thirty years. An instrument of the despotism of Louis XIV and his ministers, Reynie became a Councillor of State in 1680.

"Policing consists in ensuring the safety of the public and of private individuals, by protecting the city from that which causes disorder." The edict which Colbert presented to Louis XIV in March 1667 resulted from several centuries' evolution of French attitudes towards public safety. He envisioned a complete solution to crime; from a situation inherited from the Middle Ages, he distilled the foundations of the modern police force under the Ancien Régime.

The purpose of the office of Lieutenant of Police was to create an autonomous force to take care of the nicer areas of the city, some pressure which it can undergo(?). Paris was the first city to take such measures. Nicolas de la Reynie was the first lieutenant-general of the Paris police, an office which he held from March 1667 to January 1697. Originally concerned mainly with requests from the Council of State, he had complete authority over existing institutions of law enforcement and civil protection. All his successors have had a similar position. Appointed by the king, the office of Lieutenant of Police is revocable ad nutum (at will). While the edict conferred on him certain responsibilities (responding to delinquency, fire, and flood; control of trade; public decency, etc), it allowed de la Reynie freedom to organize his administration by gathering under its authority the old institutions.

The chief inspectors in Châtelet became Police Chiefs of the force and were increased in number to 48. Distributed between the 17 districts of Paris, they gave a daily account of their activity to the General Lieutenant. Nicolas de la Reynie also relied on a network of paid informers known as "flies" outside and "sheep" in the prisons. He was authorized to call on the armed forces, either the constabulary of Isle-de-France or the guard of Paris (approximately a thousand guards that worked the gates and walls(?) of Paris). In particular, the Lieutenant of Police supported the various governmental bureaus (trades, markets, schools, archives, etc).

In addition to this, Reynie was responsible for enforcing the edicts of the Governor of Paris in those judicial enclaves where the Parlement of Paris had previously dealt with matters which were elsewhere under the control of the prévôt des marchands and the Paris municipality.

De la Reynie also served as judge or prosecutor in lawsuits involving the aristocracy, such as that of the Chevalier de Rohan, decapitated for conspiracy, and the Affair of Poisons (l'affaire des poisons) involving the Marquise de Brinvilliers and other high-ranking French nobility.

At that time, four "police forces" competed within Paris: police chiefs, archers and freemen of the guet royal(?), the company of the criminal lieutenant, and the Provost of the city. De la Reynie reorganized these forces and took them under his wing. They were charged with ensuring the safety of the streets of Paris, supervising the environs of Paris, and the truffer of indicators(?).

Reynie vigorously suppressed the printing and sale of seditious writings, crimes which he judged himself directly (and very severely). Responsible for the execution of royal lettres de cachets, he was an enforcer of government policy such as when he ensured the corn supply of Paris, or when he directed persecution against the Protestants.

Through his determined methods, Paris became the cleanest city of its time in Europe. Paris owes to de la Reynie its system of street lighting which made the streets safer (and from whence arose the expression "Paris, the City of Light"), the first rules of circulation and parking, the paving of the streets and the water conveyance(?).

In 1697 he was succeeded as Lieutenant-General of Police by the Marquis d'Argenson, to whom many of Reynie's innovations are popularly attributed. Reynie died in 1709 in Paris.