Responsibility for maintaining law and order in Algeria is shared by the 60,000-member Gendarmerie Nationale, under the Ministry of National Defense, and the 30,000-member Sûreté Nationale, or national police force, under the Ministry of Interior. The Gendarmerie Nationale is mainly active in rural and remote areas of the country, while the Sûreté Nationale is primarily an urban police force. There are also 94,000 Municipal Guards. They have as primary duty protect the villages and act as an auxiliary force of the law enforcement.