This book shows how the police functioned in the cities of the Napoleonic Empire. Shifting attention away from political repression, it focuses on the men who embodied this institution and made it work day-to-day. Based on extensive archival research, the book shows how the Napoleonic police were indeed an instrument of power, but also a profession and a service to the public. Traditionally associated with the image of Joseph Fouché and with political surveillance, the Napoleonic police, when studied from the local level, thus reveals itself to be much more complex and oriented simultaneously towards both the preservation of the regime and maintaining good urban order.
Introduction.- 1. The police system in the cities.- 2. The development of a professional culture.- 3. From cities to Empire: 'imperialization' of police structures.- 4. Police work and the people.- 5. Policing as a tool for governing and improving the city.- 7. Conclusion.
Antoine Renglet is Researcher at the University of Louvain-la-Neuve and lecturer at Saint-Louis University of Brussels, Belgium. He holds his PhD from the universities of Lille and Namur. He was visiting researcher at the Center for the Study of Law and Society at Berkeley in 2014, and Alexander von Humboldt Fellow at the Goethe University of Frankfurt in 2019.
