Police organisation
Koninklijke Marechaussee
A component of the Dutch armed forces under the Ministry of Defence that also carries police tasks — the gendarmerie-type body alongside the civil national police.
At a glance
- Official name
- Koninklijke Marechaussee (KMar)
- Commonly rendered in English as
- Royal Netherlands Marechaussee — a rendering in common use, not the organisation’s own name.
- System
- Netherlands
- Level of government
- National
- Kind of body
- Gendarmerie-type force
- Status
- Currently operating
- Facts last checked against sources
- 13 September 2026
What it is
The Ministry of Defence describes the Koninklijke Marechaussee as a krijgsmachtdeel van Defensie, a component of the armed forces, and separates its military tasks from its police tasks to the extent of maintaining a distinct site for the latter. That combination — a military service carrying police duties, existing alongside a civil national police force — is the gendarmerie pattern, and it is why the Netherlands cannot be described as having only one police organisation.
What it covers
National, as a component of the armed forces. The specific police tasks are not enumerated by the source cited.
Broad responsibilities
- Military tasks as a component of the Netherlands armed forces
- Police tasks, which the Ministry of Defence records as existing without enumerating them on the page read
Who it answers to
Under the Ministry of Defence (Ministerie van Defensie).
Elsewhere on this site
- Who polices what — how Netherlands is structured, against other systems
Other organisations to compare
- Politie — Netherlands
- Gendarmerie nationale — France
Where this connects
Institutions: Gendarmerie.
Sources
Koninklijke Marechaussee — Ministerie van Defensie
Ministerie van Defensie (Netherlands) · Government publication · link verified 2026-09-13
SCOPE: the Koninklijke Marechaussee only. The Ministry of Defence’s own organisation page, read directly. Supports the official name "Koninklijke Marechaussee" and that it is a "krijgsmachtdeel van Defensie" — a component of the armed forces under the Ministry of Defence — while separately carrying police tasks, for which the Ministry directs readers to marechaussee.nl. Establishes the DUAL character and the ministry; it does NOT enumerate the police tasks, and none is asserted from it beyond their existence.