Law enforcement in Lithuania is the responsibility of a 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 ...

under the

jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' and 'speech' or 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, the concept of jurisdiction applies at multiple level ...

of the

Interior Ministry An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, the ...

. The main institution is the Lithuanian Police Department () led by the Police Commissar General.

History

The origins of the Lithuanian police could be traced back to the

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 Partitions of Poland, ...

, when the first ''Boni Ordinis'' Commission (literally, ''Good Order Commission'') was established in Gardinas in 1776 (later in Brest,

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

Kaunas Kaunas (; ) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest List of cities in the Baltic states by population, city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaun ...

and other cities). These institutions were directly subordinate to the

Sejm of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The General Sejm (, ) was the bicameral legislature of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It was established by the Union of Lublin in 1569 following the merger of the legislatures of the two states, the Sejm of the Kingdom of Poland and the ...

. However, the regional magnates were resisting the reforms as they saw the new institutions as a restriction of their authority. In 1775, the Permanent Council of the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...

established a Police department, but it did not have the authority over the Boni Ordinis Commissions and served primarily as an advisory body. In 1791, the

Great Sejm The Great Sejm, also known as the Four-Year Sejm (Polish language, Polish: ''Sejm Wielki'' or ''Sejm Czteroletni''; Lithuanian language, Lithuanian: ''Didysis seimas'' or ''Ketverių metų seimas'') was a Sejm of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwea ...

established the Police Commission of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. A separate Police Commission of the

with the headquarters in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

was established in 1793. It is considered to be the predecessor of the contemporary

Ministry of the Interior An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, the ...

. The origins of the contemporary police are the volunteer

militia A militia ( ) is a military or paramilitary force that comprises civilian members, as opposed to a professional standing army of regular, full-time military personnel. Militias may be raised in times of need to support regular troops or se ...

formed in 1918 after the declaration of the

Republic of Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

. The uniforms were approved in 1919 and the first laws regulating the police were adopted on 14 May 1920. The organisation was formally renamed to ''police'' on 1 January 1924. The police was divided into ''public police'' and ''criminal police''. There were several reforms and reorganizations in the following years and the ''Police Department'' was established on 1 January 1935, which composed of public, border, railway, private and water police divisions. In 1927, police employed 1262 officers, while in 1940 police had 2735 officers. The current form of police was established on 11 December 1990, following the adoption of the Law on Police. In 1991, Lithuania joined

Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL (abbreviated as ICPO–INTERPOL), commonly known as Interpol ( , ; stylized in allcaps), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and crime cont ...

. Since joining the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

, Lithuania is also a member of

Europol Europol, officially the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation, is the law enforcement agency of the European Union (EU). Established in 1998, it is based in The Hague, Netherlands, and serves as the central hub for coordinating c ...

. Lithuanian policeman in interwar Kaunas, Lithuania.jpg, Lithuanian traffic police officer during the

Interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...

. Lietuvos policija by Augustas Didzgalvis.jpg, Lithuanian police officers in 2022 Lietuvos policija 2 by Augustas Didzgalvis.jpg, Lithuanian police officer in 2022 Lithuanian Police A6 (2018).jpg, Police car in

LTPD cruisers by Augustas Didzgalvis.jpg, Police cars in Vilnius

Structure and branches

Lithuanian Police Department is established under the

. It is led by the Police Commissioner General. The department consists of ten County Police Headquarters (, literally ''county chief police commissariat''). They are further divided into sub-units of

local police Municipal police, city police, or local police are Law enforcement agency, law enforcement agencies that are under the control of local government. This includes the Municipality, municipal government, where it is the smallest Administ ...

. Additionally, the Police Department consists of the following specialized institutions: * LTTrafficPolice

Traffic Police Service * LTCriminal Police

Criminal Police Bureau * Lithuanian Police Anti-terrorist Operations Unit ARAS badge

Police Anti-terrorist Operations Unit ARAS * LTCriminalService

Forensic Science Centre * Police School of Lithuania

Police School Pareigunine by Augustas Didzgalvis.jpg, Headquarters of the Police Department (LTPD) Vilniaus AVPK by Augustas Didzgalvis.jpg,

Vilnius County Vilnius County () is the largest of the 10 counties of Lithuania, located in the east of the country around the city Vilnius and is also known as Capital Region or Sostinės regionas by the State Data Agency, Lithuanian statistics department and ...

Police Headquarters Vln1PK by Augustas Didzgalvis.jpg, Vilnius City 1st Police Station Kaunas._Policija.JPG,

Kaunas County Kaunas County () is one of ten counties of Lithuania. It is in the centre of the country, and its Capital (political), capital is Kaunas. On 1 July 2010, the county administration was abolished. Symbols The county's coat of arms can be blazoned ...

Police Headquarters LKPT by Augustas Didzgalvis.jpg, Traffic Police Headquarters Aras hq by Augustas Didzgalvis.jpg, ARAS

police tactical unit A police tactical unit (PTU) is a specialized police unit trained and equipped to handle situations that are beyond the capabilities of ordinary law enforcement units because of the level of violence (or risk of violence) involved. The tasks of a ...

headquarters

Ranks

Lithuanian police use the following system of ranks:Gintaras Paulaskas "Vidaus tarnybos pareigūnų laipsniai."
Retrieved 2020-03-04.

References

{{Lithuania topics