maréchaussée

noun1

1. •
   (historical) A type of guard force in France, French colonies, or sometimes by extension other places, commanded by a marshal (formerly used as a police force before the introduction of the gendarmerie); loosely (chiefly humorous), the police, the constabulary.

   • In Saint Domingue, free men of color and whites were enlisted in the militia and the maréchaussée to hunt runaway slaves, patrol the highways, and suppress maroon colonies […] — 1997