The case of uniformed policemen in Paris in the second half of the 19th century is here used to approach the issue of a less harsh law and order maintenance. Inspired by the London police model, Parisian policemen were indeed, according to the authorities, a “civilized” and “civilizing” police. The examination, over fifty years, of the police normative frame, of practices of repression and urban order as well as of social perception shows an uneasy normalization of police-society relations. Along with deeper social changes, a relative relaxation of law and order practices is thus to be seen over a long period. Sharper sensitivities and continuing confrontations nevertheless keep perceptions of police brutality at a high level over a short period of time and make situations appear more contrasted. Articulating different time scales therefore allows examining how, in big cities, the forms and uses of violence in the 19th were reshaped.