The Romanian Police (, , ) 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 and main civil law enforcement agency in

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. It is subordinated to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and it is led by a General Inspector with the rank of Secretary of State.

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 A prime minister 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. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

and also holds the rank of Secretary of State.

Central units

*General Directorate for Countering the

Organized crime Organized crime is a category of transnational organized crime, transnational, national, or local group of centralized enterprises run to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally thought of as a f ...

- with five central directorates ( Anti-Drug Directorate, Directorate of Combating

Human trafficking Human trafficking is the act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring, or receiving individuals through force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of exploitation. This exploitation may include forced labor, sexual slavery, or oth ...

Cybercrime Cybercrime encompasses a wide range of criminal activities that are carried out using digital devices and/or Computer network, networks. It has been variously defined as "a crime committed on a computer network, especially the Internet"; Cyberc ...

Directorate, Directorate of Combating

Terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...

Financing and

Money laundering Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money obtained from illicit activities (often known as dirty money) such as drug trafficking, sex work, terrorism, corruption, and embezzlement, and converting the funds i ...

, 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 Organized crime is a category of transnational organized crime, transnational, national, or local group of centralized enterprises run to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally thought of as a f ...

drug trafficking A drug is any chemical substance other than a nutrient or an essential dietary ingredient, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalation, injection, smoking, ingestion, ...

human trafficking Human trafficking is the act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring, or receiving individuals through force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of exploitation. This exploitation may include forced labor, sexual slavery, or oth ...

, illegal migration, cyber crime, serious financial

fraud In law, fraud is intent (law), intentional deception to deprive a victim of a legal right or to gain from a victim unlawfully or unfairly. Fraud can violate Civil law (common law), civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrato ...

s, financing

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...

and

money laundering Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money obtained from illicit activities (often known as dirty money) such as drug trafficking, sex work, terrorism, corruption, and embezzlement, and converting the funds i ...

. *General Directorate for Criminal Investigations - with three central directorates: Fraud Investigations Directorate, Criminal Investigations Directorate, Directorate of

Firearm A firearm is any type of gun that uses an explosive charge and is designed to be readily carried and operated by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see legal definitions). The first firearms originate ...

Explosive An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An ex ...

s and

Poison A poison is any chemical substance that is harmful or lethal to living organisms. The term is used in a wide range of scientific fields and industries, where it is often specifically defined. It may also be applied colloquially or figurati ...

. *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 Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

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

Vehicles

In 2011, the Romanian Police had roughly 10,500 intervention vehicles. Today, the fleet is composed largely of BMW 3 Series, Dacia Logan, Dacia Duster and

Volkswagen Polo The Volkswagen Polo is a supermini car ( B-segment) produced by the German car manufacturer Volkswagen since 1975. It is sold in Europe and other markets worldwide in hatchback, saloon, and estate variants throughout its production run. As of 2 ...

vehicles, with Mercedes Vito and Volkswagen Transporter T6 models used by the

special forces Special forces or special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...

and border police. Very few old

Volkswagen Passat The Volkswagen Passat is a nameplate of D-segment, large family cars (D-segment) manufactured and marketed by the German automobile manufacturer Volkswagen since 1973 and also marketed variously as the Dasher, Santana, Quantum, Magotan, Corsar ...

are also in service. The Road/Traffic Police also has BMW motorbikes, Seat, Lotus and Alfa Romeo vehicles, used for road chasing. 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 Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. These were delivered in autumn 2020 and had been produced at the local

Dacia Dacia (, ; ) was the land inhabited by the Dacians, its core in Transylvania, stretching to the Danube in the south, the Black Sea in the east, and the Tisza in the west. The Carpathian Mountains were located in the middle of Dacia. It thus ro ...

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). 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). 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. 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 Emergency vehicle lighting, also known as simply emergency lighting or emergency lights, is a type of Automotive lighting, vehicle lighting used to visually announce a vehicle's presence to other road users. A sub-type of emergency vehicle equipme ...

, additional battery and socket in the trunk, a set of winter tires and extended warranty. The price of each vehicle was €33,200 with the total acquisition being cofinanced by 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 ...

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

Eurocopter Airbus Helicopters SAS (formerly Eurocopter S.A., trade name, trading as Eurocopter Group) is the helicopter manufacturer, helicopter manufacturing division of Airbus. It is the largest in the industry in terms of revenues and turbine helicopte ...

Weapons

In 2020, the Romanian Police acquired 25,000 Beretta Px4 pistols, they had entered regular service by the end of 2020. The special services units ( S.I.A.S. and S.A.S.) use Glock pistols and HK-MP5 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 Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

) 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 Inspector, also police inspector or inspector of police, is a police rank. The rank or position varies in seniority depending on the organization that uses it. Australia The rank of Inspector is present in all Australian police forces excep ...

, Superintendent and

Commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to incl ...

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''). *''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 A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. ''Constable'' is commonly the rank of an officer within a police service. Other peo ...

Sergeant Sergeant (Sgt) is a Military rank, rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and in other units that draw their heritage f ...

in a British-style police force.

References

External links

*
Official site

Facebook page
{{Police