This article discusses the situation of police officers from visible ethnic minorities within the French National Police Force. Part one deals with the main ideological and institutional factors responsible for the longstanding refusal to consider the issue of ethnicity in the police institution and goes on to describe the more pragmatic attitude prevailing within that institution in recent years, in spite of some resistance. Part two describes the tangible problems encountered by officers from minority groups as uncovered in a field study conducted in the Paris area.