Group of alpine gendarmerie

The groups of alpine gendarmerie are units of the French National police specialized in the help with the victims.

Presentation

The action of the gendarmerie in mountain rests primarily on specialized units having an important technical potential with the service of missions of help and assistance.

The national police has specialized units made up of personnel of career or under contract, pertaining to the speciality “mountain”, and auxiliary gendarmes technically qualified. They are the Groups of alpine gendarmerie ( PGHM ) and the Pelotons of gendarmerie of mountain ( PGM ).

The PGHM are established in each department of the alpine massive and Pyrenean like in Haute-Corse and on the island of the Réunion. They have a territorial scope extended to the department and, as a need, to the solid masses on which they have vocation to intervene. They are especially intended for the missions of help, the concomitant judicial enquiries and the exercise of the administrative police force.

The PGM are located in the the Vosges, the the Jura and the Massif Central. They have a jurisdiction ratione loci and exert missions identical to the PGHM. Only the equipments in materials differ.

The action of the gendarmerie also rests on territorial brigades (brigades of mountain and high mountain) which must be able to exert their missions whatever the atmospheric conditions on the extent of their district, and which can take part in missions of assistance and assistance.

The gendarmerie also has a unit of staff training of the units of mountain, the National center of Instruction of Ski and Alpinism of the Gendarmerie (CNISAG) based to Chamonix.

The staff training specialized “mountain” includes/understands, in a first part of the specific training cycles military, techniques and, in one second part of the training cycles of the patent of State of guide of high mountain and sporting teacher Alpine skiing, and in a last part of the training courses to the mountain-rescue.

the Group of alpine gendarmerie of Pierrefitte-Nestalas located in the middle of the Pyrénéen solid mass works with its mission of mountain rescue on the department of the Hautes-Pyrénées on the French part of the mountainous solid mass in alternation with CRS mountain of Lannemezan.

Manpower

The gendarmerie counts to approximately 260 soldiers (10 officers and 250 warrant officers of gendarmerie) specialists “mountain” divided in 20 units:

15 groups of alpine gendarmerie (PGHM):

5 groups of gendarmerie of mountain (PGM):

Missions of the specialists mountain

Through all these units, the gendarmerie takes part, either on a purely exclusive basis, as Chamonix, or in collaboration with the CRS or the services of Civil security, in the departmental plans of Mountain rescue.

She exerts two types of missions:

mission of administrative Police force consistent in a mission of police force-connection and a mission of help (monitoring, prevention, information, help and assistance)

mission of Judicial police, a legal procedure being established at the time of accident having involved a body attack or the calling into question of a professional of the mountain. Apart from these cases, a legal official report of information. This mission can be also exerted at the time of the investigations diligentées following catastrophe.

More concretely, its missions are:

To help the people in difficulty,
To seek the people missing or deceased,
To control the respect of the various regulations and to note the infringements,
To supervise the mountainous sector,
To take part in the commissions of safety (refuge, skiable field, openings of road…),
To prevent the accidents and to inform the public,
To lead the consecutive investigations to climbing accidents,
To carry out expertises with the profit of the magistrates.

These gendarmes are thus first-aid workers but also investigators who operate in close cooperation with other speakers (pilot gendarmes of helicopters, main gendarmes of dogs, doctors…).

See too

National center of Instruction of Ski and Alpinism of the Gendarmerie

External bonds

Coordinated units of Gendarmerie of mountain