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In the face of recurring cases of abuse of power or force by the police, the solution currently emerging is that of independent oversight by agencies external to the police. In France, this mission has been entrusted to the Ombudsman (Défenseur des droits). We put the birth of these agencies and the diversity of their organizational models into perspective. Data from the European POLDEM survey show that two main types of agencies have been designed: those with strong guarantees of de jure independence (more common in the young democracies of Southern and Eastern Europe), and those with greater resources (more common in the northern part of Europe). We draw on theories of fear of « loss of control » by politicians and path dependency to explain the distribution of these traits among agencies. The Défenseur des Droits ranks among the independent agencies. However, it does not have the power to impose its decisions and has the most limited financial resources in Europe (in proportion to the task at hand).