Law enforcement in Peru

A Peruvian National Police checkpoint in Lima.

Law enforcement in Peru is divided into a national police force and municipal police forces.

Policing responsibilities

• The Peruvian National Police (Spanish: Policía Nacional del Perú, PNP) are the national police force of Peru. The PNP functions at both a state and local level.
• Peruvian cities and districts of Lima have a dedicated municipal police force with limited jurisdiction known roughly as a "Watchman Unit" (Spanish: Unidad de Serenazgo). Serenazgo officers have less legal powers than the National Police.

Corruption

The Peruvian National Police acts mainly, according to Peruvian reglamented law, as a traffic control force. While it has other squadrons that nominally fight crime, the only effectively organized of them is Black Eagles, the bank security squadron. The majority of the police force is plagued by corruption.

Former Peruvian police forces

• The Peruvian Civil Guard was formed in 1924 as Peru's main preventive police force. It later became the General Police, which in 1989 was merged into the National Police.
• The Peruvian Republican Guard existed between 1919 and 1986.
• The Peruvian Investigative Police existed from 1957 to 1987.

Historical secret police organizations

• Peruvian State Security
• DIRCOTE (Anti-Terrorism Directorate)

See also

• Crime in Peru

External links

• (Spanish) Official site