Prefect (original) (raw)

The word prefect can refer to any of a number of types of official, including:

in Latin, praefectus: a high-ranking military or civil official in the Roman Empire; the title now attaches to the heads of some departments of the Roman Curia, who are traditionally Cardinals, and if they are not are titled Pro-Prefect.
in the context of schools, a prefect is a pupil who has been given authority over other pupils in the school.

France

A prefect (pr�fet) is the State's representative in a

r�gion (thus called pr�fet de r�gion) or d�partement. His agency is called the pr�fecture. Sub-prefects (sous-pr�fets, sous-pr�fecture) operate in the arrondissements\ under his responsibility. The prefect of a r�gion is also responsible for the d�partement where his pr�fecture is seated, and the prefect of a d�partement for the arrondissement where his pr�fecture is seated.

The prefects operate under the Minister of the Interior. Their main missions include.

representing the state before the local governments;
security
- coordination of police and gendarmerie forces;
- handling of major crises;
- emergency defense procedures;
handling of official documents, such as
- production of identity documents such as identity cards and passports;
- deliverance of driving licenses;
- application of immigration rules;
respect of legality: the services of the prefect control whether the decisions of local governments were legal and submit suspicious cases to administrative courts or financial auditing courts.