Romanian Police

Police force in Romania

The Romanian Police Force (Poliția Română, ) is the national police force and main civil law enforcement agency in Romania. It is subordinated to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and it is led by a General Inspector with the rank of Secretary of State.

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 and also holds the rank of Secretary of State.

General Directorate for Countering the Organized crime with five central directorates (Anti Drug Directorate, Directorate of Combating Human trafficking, Cybercrime Directorate, Directorate of Combating Terrorism Financing and Money laundering, 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, drug trafficking, human trafficking, illegal migration, cyber crime, serious financial frauds, financing terrorism and money laundering. General Directorate for Criminal Investigations with three central directorates: Fraud Investigations Directorate, Criminal Investigations Directorate, Directorate of Firearms, Explosives and Poison. 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.

The Romanian Police is divided into 41 county police inspectorates, corresponding to each county (județ), and the Bucharest 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).

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 vehicles, with Mercedes Vito and Volkswagen Transporter T6 models used by the special forces and border police. Very few old Volkswagen Passat 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 or Sweden. These were delivered in autumn 2020 and had been produced at the local Dacia 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, additional battery and socket in the trunk, a set of winter tires and extended warranty. In March 2023, the first batch of the vehicles purchased in 2022 was delivered and they were inaugurated with the occasion of the Romaian Police Day event. The police also uses helicopters for air surveillance and immediate response. The most common manufacturer is Eurocopter.

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.