Direction régionale de la police judiciaire de la préfecture de police de Paris

[2] The PJ is the direct successor of the Sûreté, which was founded in 1812 by Eugène François Vidocq as the criminal investigative bureau of the Paris police.

The Sûreté served later as an inspiration for Scotland Yard, the FBI and other departments of criminal investigation throughout the world.

In 1907, Georges Clemenceau, who was nicknamed "le tigre" ('the Tiger'), created the twelve "brigades régionales de police mobile", as per the suggestion of Célestin Hennion, then head of The Sûreté as follows: Paris ("1ère"), Lille ("2ème"), Caen ("3ème"), Nantes ("4ème"), Tours ("5ème"), Limoges ("6ème"), Bordeaux ("7ème"), Toulouse ("8ème"), Marseille ("9ème"), Lyon ("10ème"), Dijon ("11ème") et Châlons-sur-Marne ("12ème").

Under the direction and supervision of the judiciary, it is responsible for the fight against criminality and delinquency and for the implementation of all technical, scientific and operational police resources needed for the inquiries.

Because of its history and its iconic status within the French police, the 36 and its services have often been described in novels, films and TV series.