sentences:  The prefecture is an administration that belongs to the Ministry of the Interior, and is therefore in charge of the delivery of identity cards, driving licenses, passports, residency and work permits for foreigners, vehicle registration, registration of associations (creation, status modification, dissolution), and of the management of the police and firefighters.Prefectures are located near the geographic centre of their departments, and were originally chosen for being within a day's travel on horseback from anywhere in the department.Therefore, the largest settlement in a department may not always be its prefecture