In trying to create a new policing style, based on a philosophy of a public service devoted to the citizen and not to the State, the French national police is facing many obstacles. Some of them are traditional ones, like the professional culture of the policemen themselves and the organisation of the services. But a new phenomenon is growing: instead of dealing directly with the problems encountered, the new type of French policeman tends to act as an auxiliary of the criminal justice system: he turns the cases over to the courts instead of handling them himself. This seems to be a new way of avoiding more direct relationships with the citizens.