The National Police of Uruguay is a national and institutional

police force The police are a constituted body of people empowered by a state with the aim of enforcing the law and protecting the public order as well as the public itself. This commonly includes ensuring the safety, health, and possessions of citizen ...

of the Republic of

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

, founded on December 18, 1829. It depends on the

Executive Power The executive branch is the part of government which executes or enforces the law. Function The scope of executive power varies greatly depending on the political context in which it emerges, and it can change over time in a given country. In ...

through the

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 ...

. Its assigned responsibility is to ensure compliance of laws in its population and to prevent crimes.

Creation

On December 18, 1829, the Constitutional and Legislative Assembly of the Eastern State created the office of Political Chief in each of the nine departments. Standing as Political and Police Chief in the whole national territory, Colonel Don Ignacio Oribe.

Structure

The Director of the National Police is the fourth in command in the Ministry of the Interior. The following police units depend on the National Police Directorate: * National Directorate of Police Education (Dirección Nacional de la Educación Policial) * National Aviation Directorate of the National Police (Dirección Nacional de Aviación de la Policía Nacional) * National Directorate of Gender Policies (Dirección Nacional de Políticas de Género) * National Directorate of Police Health (Dirección Nacional de Sanidad Policial) * National Directorate of Police Assistance and Social Security (Dirección Nacional de Asistencia y Seguridad Social Policial) * National Fire Department (Dirección Nacional de Bomberos) * National Rehabilitation Institute (Instituto Nacional de Rehabilitación) * National Directorate of Support for the Released (Dirección Nacional de Apoyo al Liberado) * National Directorate of Civil Identification (Dirección Nacional de Identificación Civil) * National Directorate of Migration (Dirección Nacional de Migración) * National Highway Police Directorate (Dirección Nacional de Policía de Caminera) * National Scientific Police Directorate (Dirección Nacional de Policía Científica) * Directorate of Investigations of the National Police (Dirección de Investigaciones de la Policía Nacional) * General Directorate for the Fight against Organized Crime and INTERPOL (Dirección General de Lucha contra el Crimen Organizado e INTERPOL) * General Directorate for the Repression of Illicit Drug Trafficking (Dirección General de Represión al Tráfico Ilícito de Drogas) * National Directorate of Information and Intelligence (Dirección Nacional de Información e Inteligencia) * National Directorate Republican Guard (Dirección Nacional Guardia Republicana)

Equipment

Ground vehicles

Commonly used vehicles:

Motorcycles

Commonly used motorbikes:

Aircraft units

The unit's current inventory includes the following:

Weapons

Firearms used by the National Police in its different departments:

Uniform

The daily work uniform consists of dark blue cloth combat pants with a dark blue shirt or a long-sleeved button-down shirt, black boots, a plain baseball cap with the national police logo and the bulletproof vest on top. Officers may also wear a reflective vest or winter jacket that says "police" on the back.

Other equipment

Some officers also have

body cameras A body camera, bodycam, body-worn video (BWV), body-worn camera, or wearable camera is a wearable technology, wearable audio, video, or photographic recording system. Body cameras have a range of uses and designs, of which the best-known us ...

References

External links

Ministerio del Interior de la República Oriental del Uruguay

Jefatura de Policía de Montevideo

Jefatura de Policía de Colonia

Dirección Nacional de Bomberos

Dirección Nacional de Sanidad Policial
{{Criminal procedure (investigation)

Law enforcement in Uruguay Law enforcement agencies in South America