I was there for last year and to me as an outsider, it seems the locals (even the local born French as well) like Americans than France-born French. We were there to visit a friend of my Dad (he's a Chinese living in Tahiti) and his whole extended clan when we were transfering on the way to the States. I found that even they seem to have contempts on the French police (in particular, the Gendarme, while they were less hostile to the Police Nationale). I also noticed some of the police officers (complete with kepis) also seemed to be quite snotty towards the local islanders. Interesting finding...
Anyplace where Gaugain hung out can't be all that bad.