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→Law Enforcement
There are three law National enforcement agencies to contend with in France. The Police Nationale, the Gendarmerie and the Douane.
* The '''Police Nationale''' are tasked with policing urban areas with more than 20,000 inhabitants, and the surrounding highway infrastructure. As such, you will probably rarely encounter them while thumbing.* The '''Douanes''' are the customs agency for the French Republic. They patrol close to borders, looking for suspicious activity. They are often active on highways and péages going south from [[Belgium]] and [[Luxembourg]], looking for people transporting large amounts of tobacco or looking for hitchhikers from the [[Netherlands]] who may be carrying cannabis.
* The '''Gendarmerie''' is a military agency tasked with policing all of the French Republic where the population is lower than 20,000. They are the enforcement agency you will have the most chance to encounter while on the road.
* The '''Douanes''' are the customs agency for the French Republic. They mostly patrol close to borders, looking for suspicious activity, but can operate anywhere. They are often active on highways and péages going south from [[Belgium]] and [[Luxembourg]], looking for people transporting large amounts of tobacco or looking for hitchhikers from the [[Netherlands]] who may be carrying cannabis, as well as near the border with [[Spain]]. It is said of them, that they care about goods, not persons, which is basically true, but they are allowed to check your ID and the contents of your luggage.
To make a long story short, in France, it is expected that any person can prove its identity when requested by an agent of these agencies. The easiest and most common way to do it is to show them an official ID ; however it can also be done by having someone else testify that you are indeed the person you say you are. Agents on patrol, especially Gendrames, can stop to ask you questions. Most of the time, they will ask you where are you headed, maybe a few other vague questions, remind you that hitchhiking is illegal on the highways (even if you are not on a highway at the moment), wish you a nice day and drive away. If they ask you for a proof of identity, the best thing would be to show them an official ID ; however if you cooperate somewhat they probably won't go even that far.
