Koninklijke Marechaussee
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The Koninklijke Marechaussee (KMar) (Royal Constabulary in English) is one of the four military bodies of the Netherlands. It is a gendarmerie — that is, a military body serving peacetime duties of a normal police force.
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[edit] History
The Corps de Marechaussée was created on October 26, 1814 by king William I as a replacement of the French Gendarmerie. The word gendarmerie had gained a negative connotation, so William called the new force "marechaussée" (maréchaussée is an alternate French name for the Gendarmerie). At that time, the marechaussee was a part of the army (landmacht). The marechaussee was tasked with police duties for the army, as well as civilian police work as a part of the national police (rijkspolitie). The marechaussee would form the only police force in many small cities like Venlo, especially in the southern provinces of Limburg and North Brabant.
In 1908 Queen Wilhelmina appointed the task of guarding the royal palaces to the marechaussee, a task which had previously been done by gardeners. To this day, guarding a palace is called "klompendienst" (wooden shoe service).
On July 5th, 1940 the German occupation government merged the marechaussee with the rijksveldwacht and the gemeenteveldwacht. This meant that the marechaussee lost its military status and the predicate Royal. These changes did not apply to the marechaussee outside the occupied territory. About 200 marechaussees took care of the protection of the royal family, the Dutch government and provided police services to the Princess Irene Brigade, a brigade formed in the United Kingdom, consisting of Dutchmen.
After the Second World War the marechaussee was split into a Korps Rijkspolitie (National Police Corps) (as a replacement of the rijksveldwacht and the gemeenteveldwacht) and the Koninklijke Marechaussee, which regained its military status.
On July 3rd, 1956 Princess Beatrix was made patroness of the Koninklijke Marechaussee.
In 1994 the National and Municipal police forces merged into the present 25 regional police forces and the Korps Landelijke Politiediensten (Corps National Police Services). The National Police transferred its Schiphol police and security tasks to the marechaussee.
In 1998 the marechaussee was made independent of the army.
[edit] Emblem
The emblem of the Koninklijke Marechaussee is, as with many other gendarmerie forces, an exploding grenade. In the 17th century a new weapon was introduced in Europe: the hand grenade. These were balls of glass or metal, filled with gun powder. They were lit with a fuse. Throwing a grenade was very dangerous. The soldiers who did this job, were called grenadiers. They had to be more courageous, but also were paid a bit more. In this way, the grenadiers became the elite forces of all European armies. As a sign of their elite status, they wore brass emblems showing an exploding (or flaming) grenade on their uniforms. This sign soon became the symbol for every military elite unit. The flaming grenade (but in this case within an eight-pointed star) was also the emblem of the Rijkspolitie.
[edit] Present KMar
The present marechaussee is a police organisation with a military status, under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Defense, but mostly works for the Ministries of Justice and Domestic Affairs. Tasks of the KMar are:
- guarding and police work on all civilian airports, notably Schiphol Airport
- guarding the national borders
- military police
- guarding the royal palaces and the house of the Prime Minister
- assistance to the police
- fighting international crime
- fighting illegal immigration
- Brigade Speciale Beveiligingsopdrachten (Special Security Brigade), special forces for arrests, observation and protection
- deployment of armoured vehicles for riot control and protection
