Napoleon did not believe that the middle-class National Guard would be able to maintain order and suppress riots. Therefore, he created a "Municipal Guard of Paris", a full-time gendarmerie which was strongly militarised. However, he did not abolish the National Guard, but was content to partially disarm it. He kept the force in reserve and mobilised it for the defence of French territory in 1809 and 1814. In Paris during this period the National Guard comprised twelve thousand bourgeois property owners, serving part-time and equipped at their own expense, whose prime function was to guard public buildings on a roster basis. Between 1811 and 1812 the National Guard was organized in "cohorts" to distinguish it from the regular army, and for home defence "only". By a skilful appeal to patriotism, and judicious pressure applied through the prefects, it became a useful reservoir of half-trained men for new battalions of the active army.