Imperial Gendarmerie
The Gendarmerie had been carefully rebuilt and retrained when Napoleon became First Consul. Those who were unqualified or corrupt were discharged and replaced with veteran soldiers at least twenty-five years old, had made four campaigns and who could read and write. When the Dromedary Regiment returned from Egypt it was mostly put into the Gendarmerie. Moncey was made Premier Inspecteur General de la Gendarmerie in 1801 and was assisted by six inspector generals and a staff. They were France's, and the Empire's, national constabulary and were both respected and feared. The pick of the Gendarmerie would be put into the Imperial Guard as the Gendarmerie d'Elite and wore a visored bearskin instead of the chapeau. They were carefully trained in their duties and were expected to handle all the routine and emergency situations that arose in their assigned districts. They would also serve when the situation arose as military police with the field armies. While they were technically under the Ministry of the Interior, they usually operated under the Minister of War. One of their senior officers, General Etienne Radet, was described as being competent, honest, loyal, blunt, straightforward, and as having a conscience. He improved morale in the gendarmerie, and got rid of the worst officers and men and made the gendarmerie into ‘a force to be reckoned with. A good reference to begin with is Gendarmes and the State in Nineteenth Century Europe by Clive Emsley.
Douaniers
The Corps de Douanes were the armed force of the Finance Ministry. They were responsible to control smuggling and to enforce customs regulations. Its efficiency had deteriorated under the different revolutionary governments and Napoleon completely revamped, retrained, and reorganized them upon becoming First Consul, similar to what he did with the Gendarmerie. They were organized similarly to the Gendarmerie and there was great temptation in their line of work, but their overall reputation for honesty was quite high. They were usually under the surveillance of Napoleon's ‘high' police, which encouraged virtue. The duties of the Douaniers included patrolling coastal areas, defending against British landing parties, and the interception of spies along the coasts and frontiers and to support the Gendarmerie when necessary.
They were thoroughly trained and the gendarmes had high standards for selection and the overall reputation of both organizations was high. And many served with the field armies, especially after 1812, and they performed excellently. When Davout was assigned to Hamburg in 1813 and through the siege, his personal guard was made up of Douaniers.
returns to Flintloque to paint an Ogre.