National Police: the status of design and management executives reformed

Decree No. 2026-870 of September 14, 2026 amends the special status of the design and management corps of the national police. Published in the JORF No. 0219 of September 19, 2026 under reference NOR INTC2611982D, it is signed by the Ministry of the Interior and comes into force on February 1, 2027. The text redefines the ranks, step durations, promotion conditions, and the reclassification of commissioners.

The decree amends the decree of August 2, 2005, regarding the special status of this corps. It is part of a set of four texts published on the same day in the Official Journal of the French Republic: Decree No. 2026-871 (NOR INTC2611991D) on the positions of inspector general and controller general, Decree No. 2026-872 (NOR INTC2611995D) on the classification, promotion, and remuneration of management positions, and Decree No. 2026-873 (NOR INTC2620151D) on the index-based grading of active services.

Three ranks and new step durations

The corps is now structured into three ranks, in addition to the positions of student and trainee:

• police commissioner: one student step, one trainee step, and 30 steps;
• divisional police commissioner: 32 steps;
• general police commissioner: 26 steps.

The duration spent in each step is set at ten months for the student step, one year for the trainee step and the first six steps of the police commissioner rank, and eighteen months for the other steps across the three ranks.

Promotion: two-year mobility and quotas

Promotion in rank is by selection, via registration on an annual list. For the rank of divisional commissioner, police commissioners must have at least nine years of effective service as permanent staff, have completed professional training at the École nationale supérieure de la police, and satisfied a two-year mobility requirement. A second pathway, reserved for high-responsibility management positions, requires two years of assignment and a three-year commitment, within a limit of 15% of annual promotions.

For the rank of general commissioner, divisional commissioners must have reached at least the 8th step and completed four years of secondment in management positions, or eight years in senior functions of a particularly high level. Within a limit of 20% of annual promotions, divisional commissioners who have reached the 11th step may be promoted for exceptional professional merit.

Management positions: three levels and remuneration

Decree No. 2026-872 divides management positions into three levels of responsibility and sets, by exception, the duration of time spent in each step:

• one year and two months for first-level positions;
• one year and three months for second-level positions;
• one year and four months for third-level positions.

Seniority bonuses upon reinstatement are two months and fifteen days, two months, and one month and fifteen days depending on the level, with a special bonus of up to six months per eighteen-month period, within a limit of two years over six years. Decree No. 2026-871 caps appointment to a position of inspector general or controller general at three years, renewable up to a limit of six years, and opens these positions, up to 10%, to magistrates and civil servants from the National Institute of Public Service or the École polytechnique who can justify thirteen or fourteen years of service.

Reclassification and Index Grid

Members of the corps are reclassified on February 1, 2027, according to detailed correspondence tables, with retention of the index held as long as it is in their interest. Decree No. 2026-873 sets the index scaling: the special grid for the rank of commissioner general peaks at gross index 2074, the ranks of commissioner general and divisional commissioner at 1806, the rank of police commissioner at 1336, the trainee level at 523, and the student level at 452.

These four decrees redesign the entire career of national police executives: extension of the grids, mandatory mobility, promotion quotas, and index revaluation. For commissioners and their trade unions, the challenge focuses on the application of the reclassification tables and the lists of high-responsibility positions, which are yet to be determined by order of the Ministry of the Interior.

Source: JORF No. 0219 of September 19, 2026 — Decree No. 2026-870 of September 14, 2026, NOR INTC2611982D.