The Albanian State Police ( sq, Policia e Shtetit) is the national police and law enforcement agency which operates throughout the

Republic of Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares l ...

. The collapse of the Communist system and the establishment of political pluralism post-1991 brought important changes to the structure of the Albanian Police. The Ministry of Public Order and the General Directorate of Police were established in April 1991, and the new law of July 1991 established the Public Order Police. Nearly 80% of police manpower, i.e. personnel who had served under the previous system, were replaced by new recruits. On 4 November 1991, the Albanian Police was accepted as a member of

Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cr ...

. The emergency number is 129.

History

The original Albanian Police was founded on 13 January 1913 by the government of

Ismail Qemali Ismail Qemal bey Vlora, mostly known as Ismail Qemali (; 16 January 184426 January 1919), was an Albanian diplomat, politician, rilindas, statesman and the Founding Father of modern Albania, and one of the most famous Southern Albanian perso ...

, Albania's first

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

The crisis of 1997

Following the collapse of the Albanian economy in January–February 1997 in the wake of the implosion of the Ponzi pyramid banking schemes promoted by the government, increasing insurgency in early March led to the Police and Republican Guard deserting en masse because it became clear they were unlikely to be paid, leaving their armouries unlocked, which were promptly looted by parties unknown, believed to mostly have been the local crime bodies and self-appointed militias: many of the weapons eventually surfaced in the ethnic fighting in Kosovo. 97-9

The resulting anarchy led a number of nations to use military forces to evacuate citizens, culminating in the UN authorising

Operation Alba Operation Alba ("Sunrise" or "Dawn" in Italian) was a multinational peacekeeping force sent to Albania in 1997. Led by Italy, it was intended to help the Albanian government restore law and order during the Albanian Civil War.European Union Border Assistance Mission Rafah The European Union Border Assistance Mission at the Rafah Crossing Point (EU BAM Rafah) was the EU's second Civilian Crisis Management Mission in the Palestinian territories, the other being the European Union Police Mission for the Gaza Strip (EU C ...

from 2005 onwards.

Public Perception

According to a survey produced in 2009 for the

United States Agency for International Development The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $27 b ...

Albanian's perception of the police was as follows: *On a scale of 0–100 with 0 being Very Honest and 100 being Very Corrupt, Policemen were given a score of 63.1 points *When asked to what extent the police help to fight corruption, 0 being Not at All and 100 being Helps a Lot, the Police were given a score of 45.5 *When asked about trust in institutions, 0 being No Trust at All and 100 being Trust a Lot, the Police were given a score of 47.8 *When asked if during the previous year they had been asked for a bribe 7.8% said Yes *"When asked how they were treated by the police, the proportion of respondents that replied "Poorly" or "Very poorly" was 26.6%, a decrease of 10.9 percentage points from 37.5% in 2005" Given that this was within eight years of the departure of the MAPE rebuilding mission, great concern must be expressed about the capacity of the police force to maintain the legal norms required of an aspirant EU State.

Modernization

In 2014, the Ministry of Internal Affairs started a modernization process of the Albanian police, to modernize its equipment and methods. The first step was the acquisition of new police vans and cruisers, the next one was the installment of body cameras on police officers to improve their service and to be analysed after an operation. Uniforms of the every uniformed department of the Albanian police were overhauled and the logo was also changed. Several operations were held from the years 2014 to 2016, in various criminally active regions of Albania (i.e.

Lazarat Lazarat ( sq-definite, Lazarati) is a village in Gjirokastër County, in southern Albania. It is located in the Dropull valley. Formerly functioning as a municipality, as part of the 2015 local government reform, it became a subdivision of the muni ...

) to restore confidence and belief of the Albanian public to support the actions of police. Body cameras are becoming an integral part of the Albanian police, used on various drug busts and high-profile operations, released afterwards to the public.

Ranks

In 2015, the State Police underwent reorganizational reforms which were expected to continue for several years. It implemented a new hierarchical structure composed of nine hierarchic ranks.

Pre-2015 ranks

Branch units

Equipment

* Glock 34 *

TT-33 The TT-30,, "7.62 mm Tokarev self-loading pistol model 1930", TT stands for Tula-Tokarev) commonly known simply as the Tokarev, is an out-of-production Soviet semi-automatic pistol. It was developed in 1930 by Fedor Tokarev as a service pisto ...

Beretta 92 The Beretta 92 (also Beretta 96 and Beretta 98) is a series of semi-automatic pistols designed and manufactured by Beretta of Italy. The Beretta 92 was designed in 1975, and production began in 1976. Many variants in several different calibers ...

* Beretta PX4 Storm *

Beretta APX The Beretta APX is a family of polymer-framed, modular, striker-fired semi-automatic pistols designed and produced by Beretta. The series began in 2016, starting with the full-size standard model. The size of the line has grown, with the design br ...

Makarov PM The Makarov pistol or PM ( rus, Пистоле́т Мака́рова, r=Pistolét Makárova, p=pʲɪstɐˈlʲet mɐˈkarəvə, t=Makarov's Pistol) is a Soviet semi-automatic pistol. Under the project leadership of Nikolay Fyodorovich Makarov, it ...

Beretta ARX 160 The Beretta ARX160 is an Italian modular assault rifle manufactured by Beretta. Developed for the Italian Armed Forces as part of the ''Soldato Futuro'' (English: "Future Soldier") program, the ARX160 was launched in 2008 as a commercial weapon s ...

* HS Produkt VHS *

Heckler & Koch MP5 The Heckler & Koch MP5 (german: Maschinenpistole 5) is a 9x19mm Parabellum submachine gun, developed in the 1960s by a team of engineers from the German small arms manufacturer Heckler & Koch. There are over 100 variants and clones of the MP5, ...

Heckler & Koch UMP The Heckler & Koch UMP (''Universale Maschinenpistole'', German for "Universal Machine Pistol") is a submachine gun developed and manufactured by Heckler & Koch. Heckler & Koch developed the UMP as a lighter and cheaper successor to the MP5, thou ...

Heckler & Koch MP7 The Heckler & Koch MP7 (German: ''Maschinenpistole 7'') is a personal defense weapon chambered for the HK 4.6×30mm armor-piercing cartridge designed by German defence manufacturer Heckler & Koch. It was designed (together with the new cartr ...

AK-47 The AK-47, officially known as the ''Avtomat Kalashnikova'' (; also known as the Kalashnikov or just AK), is a gas-operated assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian small-arms d ...

AKM The AKM () is an assault rifle designed by Soviet small arms designer Mikhail Kalashnikov in 1959. It is the most ubiquitous rifle of the Kalashnikov rifles. It was developed as a replacement to the AK-47 introduced a decade prior. Introduc ...

Sako TRG M10 Sako or SAKO may refer to: People with the surname * Bakary Sako (born 1988), French-born Malian footballer * Hygerta Sako, Albanian beauty pageant contestant * Louis Raphaël I Sako (born 1948), Iraqi cleric, head of the Chaldean Catholic Church * ...

Sako TRG-42 The Sako TRG is a bolt-action sniper rifle line designed and manufactured by Finnish firearms manufacturer SAKO of Riihimäki. The TRG-21 and TRG-22 are designed to fire standard .308 Winchester (7.62×51mm NATO) sized cartridges, while the TRG- ...

Heckler & Koch HK417 The Heckler & Koch HK417 is a battle rifle designed and manufactured by Heckler & Koch. Being the larger caliber version of the Heckler & Koch HK416, and chambered for the 7.62×51mm NATO rifle cartridge, it is intended for use where the penet ...

Vehicles *

Aprilia Aprilia is an Italian motorcycle manufacturer founded immediately after World War II in Noale, Italy, by Alberto Beggio. The company started as a manufacturer of bicycles and moved on to manufacture scooters and small-capacity motorcycles ...

Motorcycles *

Ford Focus The Ford Focus is a compact car (C-segment in Europe) manufactured by Ford Motor Company since 1998. It was created under Alexander Trotman's Ford 2000 plan, which aimed to globalize model development and sell one compact vehicle worldwide. The ...

Chevrolet Aveo The Chevrolet Aveo ( ) is a subcompact car (B-segment) marketed by General Motors since 2002. Originally marketed as the Daewoo Kalos, takeover of Daewoo Motors by General Motors (GM) also saw the car being marketed under seven brands (Chevrolet, ...

Volkswagen e-Golf The Volkswagen Golf (Mk7) is a small family car (C-segment) produced by German automobile manufacturer Volkswagen, as the seventh generation of the Golf and the successor to the Golf Mk6. It was introduced in Berlin on 4 September 2012, befor ...

* Hyundai Accent *

Hyundai i10 The Hyundai i10 is a city car produced by the South Korean manufacturer Hyundai since 2007. It replaced the Hyundai Atos in the model line-up, and was initially available only as a five-door hatchback body style. The third generation i10 was unve ...

Hyundai Santa Fe The Hyundai Santa Fe ( ko, 현대 싼타페) is a sport utility vehicle (SUV) produced by the South Korean manufacturer Hyundai since 2000. It is named after the city of Santa Fe, New Mexico, and was introduced for the 2001 model year as Hyunda ...

BMW 5 Series The BMW 5 Series is an executive car manufactured and marketed by BMW since 1972, succeeding the New Class Sedans, and currently in its seventh generation. The 5 Series was initially available as a sedan, with a wagon/estate body style (marke ...

Škoda Octavia The Škoda Octavia is a small family car produced by the Czech car manufacturer Škoda Auto since the end of 1996. It shares its name with an earlier model produced between 1959 and 1971. Four generations of the modern-era Octavia model hav ...

Iveco VM 90 The Iveco VM 90 is an Italian multirole military vehicle. It is a hybrid, somewhere between a truck and tactical SUV, manufactured by Iveco, on the base of the Iveco Daily. From this version was subsequently also derived the 40.10WM civilian ver ...

* Land Rover Defend 4x4

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

has donated armored vehicles *

Mil Mi-8 The Mil Mi-8 (russian: Ми-8, NATO reporting name: Hip) is a medium twin-turbine helicopter, originally designed by the Soviet Union in the 1960s and introduced into the Soviet Air Force in 1968. It is now produced by Russia. In addition to ...

(air support) *

Zodiac Nautic Zodiac Nautic is a French company best known for their widely used inflatable boats. Zodiac Nautic finds its origins in the “Zodiac airships and aviation French company”, specialized in the production of airships. In the 1930s Pierre Debroutel ...

(Sea Patrol, in use by Special Police Forces)