The Tuvalu Police Force is the national Police force of Tuvalu, it is headquartered in Funafuti 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 c ...

Unit,

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

, Prisons and Immigration. Police officers 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 The Law of Tuvalu comprises the legislation voted into law by the Parliament of Tuvalu and statutory instruments that become law; certain Acts passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom (during the time Tuvalu was either a British protectorate ...

. This legislation is published online by the Office of the Attorney General of Tuvalu; also by the

Pacific Islands Legal Information Institute ThPacific Islands Legal Information Institute(PacLII) collects and publishes legal materials from 20 Pacific Islands Countries on its website www.paclii.org. These countries are American Samoa, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji Isla ...

, 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 The Constitution of Tuvalu states that it is “the supreme law of Tuvalu” and that “all other laws shall be interpreted and applied subject to this Constitution”; it sets out the Principles of the Bill of Rights and the Protection of the ...

Role in maritime surveillance

The HMTSS ''Te Mataili'', a

Pacific Forum patrol vessel The Pacific class (also known as the Pacific Forum classToppan & Walsh, ''World Navies Today: Other Asia-Pacific Navies'' and the ASI 315 class) is a class of 22 patrol boats built by Australia and donated to twelve South Pacific countries. Th ...

, given to Tuvalu, from

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, 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 Zones 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 ground). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farms, both ...

patrol, and prevent smuggling. Australia replaced the ''Te Mataili'' with a larger and more capable

Guardian class patrol vessel The Guardian-class patrol boats are a class of small patrol vessels designed and built in Australia and provided to small South Pacific Ocean countries as part of the Australian Government's Pacific Maritime Security Program. The class is des ...

in April, 2019, named HMTSS ''Te Mataili II''.

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 The Falekaupule on each of the Islands of Tuvalu is the traditional assembly of elders or ''te sina o fenua'' (literally: "grey-hairs of the land" in the Tuvaluan language). Under the Falekaupule Act (1997), the powers and functions of the ''Falek ...

'' 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.”

References

External links

THE CONSTITUTION OF TUVALU
* https://web.archive.org/web/20070928014119/http://www.ramsi.org/node/29 * http://www.tuvalu-news.tv/archives/2006/12/tuvalu_police_toughening_up_on.html * http://www.tuvaluislands.com/gov_addresses.htm * http://www.isiservicescorp.com/mjcpatch.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Law enforcement in Tuvalu Politics of Tuvalu Law of Tuvalu