Polícia de Segurança Pública

National civil police force of Portugal
the Polícia de Segurança Pública of Portugal

The Polícia de Segurança Pública MHTE (PSP; Public Security Police) is the national civil police force of Portugal. Part of the Portuguese security forces, the mission of the PSP is to defend Republican democracy, safeguarding internal security and the rights of its citizens. Despite many other functions, the force is generally known for policing urban areas with uniformed police officers, while rural areas are normally policed by National Republican Guard (GNR), the country's national gendarmerie force. PSP is focused in preventive policing, only investigating minor crimes. Investigation of serious crimes falls under the Judicial Police responsibility, which is a separate agency. Since October 2023, the PSP is now in charge of controlling the Portuguese borders (alongside the GNR), with the dissolution of the SEF force.

Since 2004, the Skoda Octavia has been the principal model of patrol car used by the Public Security Police. Since 2018 PSP is receiving hundreds of Renault Captur patrol vehicles, many equipped with Federal Signal push bumpers, to replace older patrol cars. However, a number of other models are also in service, including Nissan Leaf, Renault Zoe, Fiat Tipo, Toyota Avensis and Toyota RAV4 jeeps. Single apprehended Audi R8, BMW i8, Porsche 996 Turbo and Subaru Impreza Prodrive are used as special pursuit cars. Ground speed radar equipped Toyota Avensis and Volkswagen Sharan minivans are used for traffic enforcement, such as some Audi A4 3.0 TDI and Bmw 335i unmarked patrol cars, while some Toyota Hilux pickup trucks and Land Rover Defender jeeps are used for patrolling non urban and mountainous areas. A huge number vans are also in service, including newer Mercedes Benz Metris and Sprinter (with flip down wire shield across the windscreen) and Citroën Berlingo to prisoners transport. The Special Police Unit uses several special vehicles, including MAN tow trucks, Iveco water cannons and armored vehicles, such as two Ford Streit and some Volkswagen Sharan (with flip down wire shield across the windscreen and Federal Signal front push bumper).

PSP vehicles have some lack of uniform appearance due to the successive introduction of new liveries which however are usually only applied to new vehicles, with the existing ones keeping the original old ones. The most recent livery for the PSP vehicles was introduced in 2014. The basic version of this livery consists in a white body with diagonal blue stripes, the wording "POLÍCIA" (police) in blue sans serif lettering in the sides, rear and bonnet and a logo with the national colors on the front side panels. For the traffic patrol vehicles there is a variant, which intermediates red stripes with the blue ones and has the wording "TRÂNSITO" (transit) on the rear side panels. Another variant of the livery is its negative version (blue, with the stripes and wording in white) to be applied in vans and special vehicles. The three variants have been applied to most of the vehicles acquired after 2014. However, other vehicles carry older or not standard liveries, namely the 2004 livery (similar to the 2014 livery, but with the wording "POLICIA" in serif letters which are inclined in the sides and the PSP coat of arms instead of the national colors logo), the 1991 livery (blue body with doors, trunk and bonnet in white and crossed by red stripes), the 1979 livery (blue body with white front doors), the all blue body (used by most of the vans and special vehicles) and several special police programs (Safe School, Tourism support, etc.) liveries. A restored Volkswagen Beetle historical patrol car kept for use in ceremonies and exhibitions is anachronistically painted with the 1979 1991 livery, instead of the original livery used by the PSP in the 1960s and 1970s, which consisted in a blue body and grey mudguards, with the word "POLÍCIA" on the doors.