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Public in Dordogne warned after fake French gendarmes rob residents

Criminals dressed in gendarme uniforms have been robbing people's houses in the Dordogne, southwest France. The authorities have urged members of the public to be cautious. Here's what you need to know.

Published: 21 January 2022 14:42 CET

Criminals have been usurping the identity of gendarmes in the Dordogne, southwest France (Photo by Alain JOCARD / AFP)

A group of fake gendarmes in the Dordogne département have been robbing residents.

Their modus operandi is as follows: they arrive at the front door dressed in official gendarme uniforms and ask to see where the household valuables are stashed. They then grab the goods and rush away.

It is hardly like a sophisticated scene from Lupin but a number of people have understandably fallen victim to the crime, swayed by the uniform.

The Gendarmerie de la Dordogne have urged caution and recommend the following steps to avoid being robbed in such circumstances:

Never let any unknown individual enter your home
Install a peep-hole in your door or install a chain lock
Ask to see the professional ID card of the officer or a mission letter.

They have posted an example ID card on their Facebook page.

A French Gendarme's professional ID card

This is what a French Gendarme’s ID card looks like. (Source: Gendarmerie de la Dordogne)

The card should also show the face of the officer – in the space covered by the thumb in the picture above.

If you are still in doubt, you can ring the number 17 from any mobile phone in France to verify that an officer has indeed been sent to you address.

A gendarme will not ask to enter your home except in the case that they are carrying a warrant or acting as part of an enquête judiciaire – you have the right to be informed if such an investigation has been launched against you.

Outside of these cases, the gendarme should be able to ask you for any necessary information at the door.

The recent spate of thefts committed by people pretending to be gendarmes is nothing new in France.

In 2019, the Gendarmerie of Nièvre in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region arrested someone accused of impersonating a gendarme and found in possession of official clothing.

#CartonRouge #Nièvre : un faux #gendarme arrêté par les vrais.
Tenues, galons…gyrophare, l’individu possédait tout l'attirail & n'hésitait pas à s'en servir.
Il devra répondre d'usurpation de qualité devant la justice ⚖️
👤⤵️https://t.co/bnlZbmfWAw
😏👉 https://t.co/q5AaiZQhzZ pic.twitter.com/cu91RzH1SR

— Gendarmerie nationale (@Gendarmerie) December 17, 2019

The Gendarmerie Nationale is technically part of the French armed forces, but carries out considerable domestic law enforcement alongside the Police Nationale.

Those currently robbing people in the Dordogne are taking significant risks. Impersonating a law enforcement officer in France can result in a three year prison sentence and €45,000 fine.

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Police intervened as dozens of students gathered on a central Paris campus of the prestigious Sciences Po university on Wednesday evening, management said.

“After discussions with management, most of them agreed to leave the premises,” university officials said in a statement to AFP, saying the protest was adding to “tensions” at the university.

But “a small group of students” refused to leave and “it was decided that the police would evacuate the site,” the statement added.

Sciences Po said it regretted that “numerous attempts” to have the students leave the premises peacefully had led nowhere.

According to the police préfecture, students had set up around 10 tents.

When members of law enforcement arrived, “50 students left on their own, 70 were evacuated calmly from 0.20am” and the police “left at 1.30am, with no incidents to report,” the police said.

The protesters demanded that Sciences Po “cut its ties with universities and companies that are complicit in the genocide in Gaza” and “end the repression of pro-Palestinian voices on campus,” according to witnesses.

The protest was organised by the Palestine Committee of Sciences Po.

In a statement on Thursday, the group said its activists had been “carried out of the school by more than fifty members of the security forces,” adding that “around a hundred” police officers were “also waiting for them outside”.

Sciences Po management “stubbornly refuses to engage in genuine dialogue,” the group said.

The organisers have called for “a clear condemnation of Israel’s actions by Sciences Po” and a commemorative event “in memory of the innocent people killed by Israel,” among other demands.

Separately, the Student Union of Sciences Po Paris said the decision by university officials to call in the police was “both shocking and deeply worrying” and reflected “an unprecedented authoritarian turn”.

Many top US universities have been rocked by protests in recent weeks, with some students furious over the Israel-Hamas war and ensuing humanitarian crisis in the besieged Palestinian territory of Gaza.

France is home to the world’s largest Jewish population after Israel and the United States, as well as Europe’s biggest Muslim community.

The war in Gaza began with an unprecedented attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel on October 7th that resulted in the deaths of around 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

In retaliation, Israel launched a military offensive that has killed at least 34,305 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.