Polícia Judiciária

Portugal's serious crime investigation police

Law enforcement agency
Judiciary Police
Polícia Judiciária
{{{logocaption}}}
AbbreviationPJ
Agency overview
Formed1945
Preceding agency
  • Polícia de Investigação Criminal (PIC)
Jurisdictional structure
National agencyPortugal
Operations jurisdictionPortugal
Primary governing bodyGovernment of Portugal
Secondary governing bodyMinistry of Justice (Portugal)
General nature
Operational structure
HeadquartersLisbon
Agency executive
  • Luís Neves, National Director
Website
www.policiajudiciaria.pt

The Polícia Judiciária (European Portuguese: [puˈlisjɐ ʒuðiˈsjaɾjɐ]; PJ; English: Judicial Police) is the national criminal investigation police agency of Portugal, focused in fighting serious crimes, including homicides, kidnapping, organized crime, terrorism, illegal drug trade, corruption, cybercrime and financial crime. It is integrated into the Ministry of Justice, but operates under the supervision of the Public Ministry.

Several countries and territories that were once overseas provinces of Portugal maintain criminal investigation police forces modeled after the Portuguese one, with some of them retaining also the name Polícia Judiciária. These are the cases of Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau and Macau.[1]

The Polícia Judiciária Militar (Military Judiciary Police) is a separate criminal investigation police agency that operates under the Ministry of National Defense. This agency is responsible for the investigation of military crimes and crimes committed among the Portuguese Armed Forces.

History

The present Polícia Judiciária originates from a division of the old Polícia Civil (Civil Police). The Polícia Civil was founded on 2 July 1867, during the reign of Luís I of Portugal and changed its name to Polícia Cívica (Civic Police) in 1910. By decree of 29 August 1893, the Polícia de Investigação Judiciária e Preventiva (Judicial Investigation and Preventive Police) branch of the Polícia Civil was created. In 1922, this branch became the Polícia de Investigação Criminal (PIC, Criminal Investigation Police). In 1927, it became an autonomous police service under the Ministry of Justice. On 20 October 1945, the PIC changed its name to Polícia Judiciária.

Organization

The Polícia Judiciária is headed by a National Director, appointed together by the Prime-Minister and the Minister of Justice.

PJ chart
Internal organization chart

Equipment

The Polícia Judiciária can use virtually any weapons of any caliber if necessary.

Model Origin Type References
Glock 19 Austria Semi-automatic pistol
Glock 26
CZ Scorpion Evo 3 Czech Republic Submachine gun [2]
Benelli M3 Italy Shotgun [3][4]
Mossberg 500 United States
IWI Tavor Israel Assault rifle [5]

References

  1. ^ "Polícia Judiciária". Pj.gov.mo. Archived from the original on 2015-03-29. Retrieved 2015-05-06.
  2. ^ "PJ | Polícia Judiciária on LinkedIn: A Unidade Nacional de Combate ao Tráfico de Estupefacientes da PJ |…". pt.linkedin.com. Retrieved 2024-07-06.
  3. ^ Almeida, Carla (2013-08-23). "FUGITIVO PERIGOSO PRESO NA CAPARICA". Correio da Manhã Canadá (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  4. ^ "Gang asiático preso por espalhar o terror em Lisboa". www.cmjornal.pt (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 2021-09-23.
  5. ^ "Judiciária vai ter operações especiais". www.cmjornal.pt (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  • Official website
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Polícia_Judiciária&oldid=1329716429"