Romanian Police

Romanian Police
Poliția Română
Coat of arms of the Romanian Police
Coat of arms of the Romanian Police
Common namePoliția
AbbreviationPR
MottoLex et Honor
Law and Honour
Agency overview
Formed27 December 1989[1]
Preceding agency
Employees45,391 (2007)[2]
Annual budget900 million EUR
Jurisdictional structure
National agencyROU
Operations jurisdictionROU
General nature
Operational structure
Headquarters6 Mihai Vodă street, Bucharest
Sworn members44,000
Agency executive
  • Benone-Marian Matei, Secretary of State, General Inspector
Parent agencyMinistry of Internal Affairs
Website
www.politiaromana.ro

The Romanian Police (Romanian: Poliția Română, pronounced [poˈlit͡si.a roˈmɨnə]) is the national police force and main civil law enforcement agency in Romania. It is subordinated to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and it is led by a General Inspector with the rank of Secretary of State.[3]

Duties

The Romanian Police is responsible for:

  • policing in Romania
  • the protection of the fundamental rights and liberties of the citizens and of the private and public property
  • the prevention and identification of criminal offences and their perpetrators
  • maintaining the public order and safety

Organization

General Inspectorate of Romanian Police is the central unit of police in Romania, which manages, guides, supports and controls the activity of the Romanian police units, investigates and analyses very serious crimes related to organized crime, economic, financial or banking criminality, or to other crimes which make the object of the criminal cases investigated by the Prosecutor's Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice, and which has any other attributions assigned by law.

The organizational chart of General Inspectorate of Romanian Police includes general directorates, directorates, services and, offices established by the order of the Minister of Internal Affairs.

The General Inspectorate is under the command of a General Inspector appointed by the Minister of Internal Affairs. Since March 2015, the General Inspector of the Police is appointed by the Prime Minister and also holds the rank of Secretary of State.[4]

Central units

  • General Directorate for Countering the Organized crime - with five central directorates (Anti-Drug Directorate, Directorate of Combating Human trafficking, Cybercrime Directorate, Directorate of Combating Terrorism Financing and Money laundering, Special Operations Directorate) and 15 regional Brigades of Countering Organized Criminality. These Brigades are specialized units and have the mission to fight against organized crime, drug trafficking, human trafficking, illegal migration, cyber crime, serious financial frauds, financing terrorism and money laundering.
  • General Directorate for Criminal Investigations - with three central directorates: Fraud Investigations Directorate, Criminal Investigations Directorate, Directorate of Firearms, Explosives and Poison.
  • General Directorate for Public Safety Police - with three central directorates: Public Order Directorate, Traffic Police Directorate, Transport Police Directorate.
  • General Directorate for Administrative Police - with four central directorates: Forensics Institute, Directorate for Criminal Records, Statistics and Operational Registry, Directorate for Logistics Management, the Directorate for IT&C.

Under the command of the General Inspectorate of the Romanian Police operates a specialized intervention squad, The Independent Service of Special Interventions and Operations.

Territorial units

The Romanian Police is divided into 41 county police inspectorates, corresponding to each county (județ), and the Bucharest General Directorate of Police.

Each county police inspectorate has a rapid reaction unit (Detașamentul de Poliție pentru Intervenție Rapidă, Police Rapid Intervention Squad). The similar unit attached to the Bucharest Police is called Serviciul de Poliție pentru Intervenție Rapidă (Police Rapid Intervention Service).

Equipment

BMW 3 Series vehicle in Romanian Police service

Vehicles

In 2011, the Romanian Police had roughly 10,500 intervention vehicles.[5]

Today, the fleet is composed largely of BMW 3 Series, Dacia Logan, Dacia Duster and Volkswagen Polo vehicles, with Mercedes Vito and Volkswagen Transporter T6 models used by the special forces and border police. Very few old Volkswagen Passat are also in service. The Road/Traffic Police also has BMW motorbikes, Seat, Lotus and Alfa Romeo vehicles, used for road chasing.[6]

In 2020, the Ministry of Interior Affairs acquired 6,744 brand new vehicles which would also feature a new painting scheme, similar to those in Germany or Sweden.[7] These were delivered in autumn 2020 and had been produced at the local Dacia factory in Mioveni. A significant part of the acquired vehicles are Dacia Duster (2018 model year), being the first time a crossover SUV is introduced in the force on a large, nationwide scale and Dacia Logan (2017 model year, newest at the time of acquisition).[8]

In July 2022, following a controversial auction, the General Inspectorate of the Romanian Police finalised the acquisition of 600 BMW 3 Series 320i xDrive Sedan vehicles (2023 model year).[9][10][11] These have engines that have a power output of 184 hp (125 kW) and 300Nm torque, 8+1 speed automatic transmissions, all wheel drive, accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in 7.7 seconds and reach a top speed of 230 km/h.[12][13][14] The cars are painted in white and are G20 3 Series LCI models. The specific equipment consists of the new Romanian Police blue-yellow reflective livery, lightbar, additional battery and socket in the trunk, a set of winter tires and extended warranty.[13] The price of each vehicle was €33,200[13][11] with the total acquisition being cofinanced by the European Union through the Big Infrastructure Operational Program (Programul Operațional Infrastructură Mare, POIM). Such, 300 vehicles were financed by the EU and 300 by the Romanian State.[15]

In March 2023, the first batch of the vehicles purchased in 2022 was delivered and they were inaugurated with the occasion of the Romanian Police Day event.[16]

The police also uses helicopters for air surveillance and immediate response.[17] The most common manufacturer is Eurocopter.

Weapons

In 2020, the Romanian Police acquired 25,000 Beretta Px4 pistols, they had entered regular service by the end of 2020.[18] The special services units (S.I.A.S. and S.A.S.) use Glock pistols and HK-MP5[19] submachine guns.

Ranks

Before 2002, the National Police had military status and a military ranking system (see Romanian Armed Forces ranks and insignia). In June 2002 it became a civilian police force (one of the first police services in Eastern Europe) and its personnel was structured into two corps:

  • Corpul ofițerilor de poliție (Police Officers Corps) - corresponding to the commissioned ranks of a military force, to the ranks of Inspector, Superintendent and Commissioner in a British-style police force or to the both Corps de conception et de direction and Corps de commande et d'encadrement in the French National Police (Police Nationale).
Rank Shoulder insignia Translated as Military rank equivalent French police rank equivalent [citation needed] British Metropolitan Police rank equivalent [citation needed]
Chestor-general de poliție Police General-Quaestor General Directeur des services actifs Commissioner
Chestor-șef de poliție Police Chief-Quaestor Lieutenant General Inspecteur général Assistant Commissioner
Chestor principal de poliție Police Principal Quaestor Major General Contrôleur général Deputy Assistant Commissioner
Chestor de poliție Police Quaestor Brigadier General Comissaire général Commander
Comisar-șef de poliție Police Chief-Commissioner Colonel Commissaire divisionnaire Chief Superintendent
Comisar de poliție Police Commissioner Lieutenant Colonel Commissaire de police Superintendent Grade I
Subcomisar de poliție Police Sub-Commissioner Major Commandant Superintendent
Inspector principal de poliție Police Principal Inspector Captain Capitaine Chief Inspector
Inspector de poliție Police Inspector Lieutenant Lieutenant Inspector
Subinspector de poliție Police Sub-Inspector Second Lieutenant Lieutenant intern Temporary/Probationary Inspector
  • Corpul agenților de poliție (Police Agents Corps) - corresponding to the non-commissioned ranks of a military force, to the Corps d'encadrement et d'application in the French National Police or to the ranks of Constable or Sergeant in a British-style police force.
Rank Shoulder insignia Translated as Military rank equivalent French police rank equivalent British police rank equivalent
Agent-șef principal de poliție Police Principal Chief Agent Sergeant Major Major Station Sergeant
Agent-șef de poliție Police Chief Agent Master Sergeant Brigadier-chef Station Sergeant
Agent-șef adjunct de poliție Police Deputy Chief Agent Sergeant First Class Brigadier Sergeant
Agent principal de poliție Police Principal Agent Staff Sergeant Sous-Brigadier Acting Sergeant
Agent de poliție Police Agent Sergeant Gardien de la paix Constable

See also

References

  1. ^ "Short history of the Romanian Police".
  2. ^ "Are Romania nevoie de mai multi politisti?" (in Romanian). 2009-10-21. Retrieved 2024-04-24.
  3. ^ http://polis.osce.org/countries/details?item_id=40 Archived 2016-08-28 at the Wayback Machine OSCE entry on Romanian police
  4. ^ "Iohannis promulgă legea prin care şeful Poliţiei are rang de secretar de stat şi e numit de premier" (in Romanian). 11 March 2015. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
  5. ^ "Deficit de aproape 7.000 de angajati in Politia Romana".
  6. ^ "Politia Romana a primit un bolid de lux care atinge 100 km/ora in 5 secunde".
  7. ^ "Poliţia Română cumpără peste 6.700 de maşini Dacia".
  8. ^ "Poliţia Română cumpără peste 6.700 de maşini Dacia". Stirileprotv.ro (in Romanian). Retrieved 2022-05-02.
  9. ^ "Cum explică Poliția Română achiziția de mașini BMW, după ce un sindicat a acuzat o licitație cu dedicație". Stirileprotv.ro (in Romanian). Retrieved 2023-04-21.
  10. ^ Burlă, Virgil (2022-09-19). "Poliția cumpără 600 de mașini BMW, cutie automată, opt viteze. Sindicatul Europol acuză o licitație cu dedicație". Europa Liberă România (in Romanian). Retrieved 2023-04-21.
  11. ^ a b "Poliția cumpără 600 de BMW-uri de la firma lui Michael Schmidt cu 98 de mil. lei / Sindicaliștii din poliție acuză o licitație cu dedicație / Iohannis a beneficiat gratuit de mașini BMW când era primar, iar în timpul campaniei din 2014 a locuit într-un apartament al omului de afaceri". G4Media.ro (in Romanian). 2022-09-22. Retrieved 2023-04-21.
  12. ^ "BMW 3 Series Sedan: Specifications (in Rmanian)". bmw.ro. Retrieved 2023-04-21.
  13. ^ a b c "Poliția Rutieră schimbă Loganul cu BMW". EUROPOL - Sindicatul Polițiștilor Europeni (in Romanian). Retrieved 2023-04-21.
  14. ^ "Ce au cerut și ce vor primi polițiștii de la Rutieră. Europol explică de ce noile autospeciale BMW nu își vor dovedi utilitatea pe teren". Ziare.com (in Romanian). Retrieved 2023-04-21.
  15. ^ "SEAP". www.e-licitatie.ro. Retrieved 2023-04-21.
  16. ^ "GALERIE FOTO Cum arată noile mașini BMW cumpărate de IGPR și vizate de o anchetă a Parchetului European / Autoturismele, expuse la evenimentul organizat de ziua Poliției Române". www.hotnews.ro (in Romanian). Retrieved 2023-04-21.
  17. ^ "Poliţia supraveghează din elicopter traficul rutier şi amplasează radare "în cascadă"".
  18. ^ "25.000 de pistoale noi pentru polițiștii de la Brigada Rutieră și de la Ordinea Publică". Pro TV (in Romanian). 30 July 2020. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
  19. ^ "Bucharest, Romania - July 29, 2020: Details with an officer from the Special Actions and Intervention Service (SIAS), from the Romanian Police, holding a Heckler & Koch MP5 Stock Photo - Alamy". www.alamy.com. Retrieved 2022-05-16.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Police of Romania.