Editing Prefectures in France (section)

==Parisian exception==
[[File:Petite couronne.svg|thumb|right|Petite Couronne]]

There is an exception in [[Paris]] in the [[Île-de-France]] region and its three surrounding departments, known as the Petite Couronne ("Small Crown"): [[Hauts-de-Seine]] to the west, [[Seine-Saint-Denis]] to the northeast and [[Val-de-Marne]] to the southeast. These departments are administered by an additional separate unitary prefecture for law enforcement and security purposes, a [[Prefecture of Police]] ({{langx|fr|préfecture de police}}), known as the [[Paris Police Prefecture]], a situation inherited from the [[Paris Commune]] of 1871. The power of law enforcement is usually vested in the [[Mayor (France)|mayor]] in other [[Communes of France|communes]]. This power is held by the Prefect of Police of Paris in the Petite Couronne.

In 2012, a similar structure was established in [[Bouches-du-Rhône]], the [[Bouches-du-Rhône Police Prefecture]], headed by the Prefect of Police of Bouches-du-Rhône, although it is formally less independent than that of Paris.