The Tuvalu Police Force is the national

Police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

force of

Tuvalu Tuvalu ( ) is an island country in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean, about midway between Hawaii and Australia. It lies east-northeast of the Santa Cruz Islands (which belong to the Solomon Islands), northeast of Van ...

, it is headquartered in

Funafuti Funafuti is an atoll, comprising numerous islets, that serves as the capital of Tuvalu. As of the 2017 census, it has a population of 6,320 people. More people live in Funafuti than the rest of Tuvalu combined, with it containing approximately 6 ...

and includes a Maritime

Surveillance Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing, or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as ...

Unit,

Customs Customs is an authority or Government agency, agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling International trade, the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out ...

Prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where Prisoner, people are Imprisonment, imprisoned under the authority of the State (polity), state ...

s and

Immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as Permanent residency, permanent residents. Commuting, Commuter ...

Police officer A police officer (also called policeman or policewoman, cop, officer or constable) is a Warrant (law), warranted law employee of a police, police force. In most countries, ''police officer'' is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. ...

s wear British style uniforms.

Police powers and responsibilities

The police service is managed in accordance with the Police Powers and Duties Act (2009) and the Police Powers and Duties Regulations (2012). The powers of arrest and search are described in Part III of the Criminal Procedure Code (1963). The Penal Code (1965) is a codification of what crimes under Law of Tuvalu. This legislation is published online by the Office of the Attorney General of Tuvalu; also by the Pacific Islands Legal Information Institute, with the law set out in the 2008 Revised Edition; with a list of current legislation (up to 2012).

Status under the Constitution of Tuvalu

According to the Constitution of Tuvalu, Police badge of Tuvalu

Role in maritime surveillance

The HMTSS ''Te Mataili'', a Pacific Forum patrol vessel, given to Tuvalu, from

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, from October 1994 to early 2019. Australia agreed to provide these vessels to smaller neighbours in the Pacific Forum, after the United Nations Convention on Laws of the Seas extended maritime nations

Exclusive Economic Zone An exclusive economic zone (EEZ), as prescribed by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is an area of the sea in which a sovereign state has exclusive rights regarding the exploration and use of marine natural resource, reso ...

s to 200 kilometers. Australia agreed its own security was improved if it gave its smaller neighbours vessels that enabled them to protect their own sovereignty, perform

search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...

fishery Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life or, more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a., fishing grounds). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish far ...

patrol, and prevent smuggling. Australia replaced the ''Te Mataili'' with a larger and more capable Guardian class patrol vessel in April, 2019, named HMTSS ''Te Mataili II''. ''Te Mataili II'' was severely damaged by cyclones in 2023. On 16 October 2024 Australia handed over a Guardian-class patrol boat to Tuvalu, which was named HMTSS ''Te Mataili III''> In May 2023 the Government of Tuvalu signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Sea Shepherd Global, which is based in the Netherlands, to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing in Tuvalu’s

(EEZ). Sea Shepherd Global will provide the ''Allankay'', a motor vessel, to support Tuvalu’s law enforcement activities. Allankay will accommodate officers from the Tuvalu Police Force, who have the authority to board, inspect, and arrest fishing vessels engaged in IUU activity in Tuvalu’s EEZ.

Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands

Tuvalu provided police officers to the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands from December 2004. Tuvaluan Police officer Fanini Maleko was the contingent commander of the Tuvaluan police serving as part of RAMSI's Participating Police Force (PPF).

Social institutions of Tuvalu

Each island has its own high-chief, or ulu-aliki, and several sub-chiefs ( alikis). The community council is the ''Falekaupule'' (the traditional assembly of elders) or te sina o fenua (literally: "grey-hairs of the land"). As defined in the Falekaupule Act (1997), '' Falekaupule'' means "traditional assembly in each island...composed in accordance with the Aganu of each island". ''Aganu'' means traditional customs and culture. Section 41 and Schedule 3 of the Falekaupule Act (1997) provides that “ shall be the duty of every Falekaupule and of every Kaupule to use its resources to assist the police in the detection and prevention of crime within the area of its authority.”

Ranks of the Tuvalu Police Force

Below is a table stating the ranks and insignia used by the Tuvalu Police Force.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Law enforcement in Tuvalu Politics of Tuvalu Law of Tuvalu