State police, provincial police or regional police are a type of sub-national territorial police force found in nations organized as federations, typically in North America, South Asia, and Oceania. These forces typically have jurisdiction over the relevant sub-national jurisdiction, and may cooperate in law enforcement activities with municipal or national police where either exist.
Argentina In Argentina, as a federal country, each province has its own independent police force and its responsible of its funding, training and equipment. State police agencies are responsible of all the territory of a determinate state. There is almost no municipal/local law enforcement in Argentina, and if there is, they are generally limited to traffic duties.
Australia
Prior to the Federation of Australia, each colony within Australia had numerous police forces, but these were largely amalgamated well before federation.
Today each state of Australia, as well as the Northern Territory, has its own state police force. Municipalities do not have police forces and it is left to the state forces to police all geographic areas within their respective states. Australia does have a national police force, the Australian Federal Police, whose role is to enforce the laws of the Commonwealth, both criminal law and civil law, as well as to protect the interests of the Commonwealth, both domestically and internationally. The AFP does, however, provide policing for the Australian Capital Territory, Jervis Bay Territory, and Australia's other external territories such as Norfolk Island, Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands.
The state and territory police forces are: New South Wales Police Force Northern Territory Police Queensland Police Service South Australia Police Tasmania Police Victoria Police Western Australia Police
Brazil
Each federative unit in Brazil, beside its military firefighters corps and its penal and scientific polices, has two main police corporations working together with different skills:
Civil Police — The nonuniformed judiciary police, mainly responsible for investigating criminal offenses occurring in their territories. They're mainly based on Delegates (necessarily bachelors of laws), Clerks, Investigators and/or Agents and also responds for its Scientific Polices (responsible for forensic science activities and services) in the Federal District and other 8 states. Military Police — The uniformed and militarily hierarchical police officers perform, under a gendarmerie system, police functions of patrolling, approaching and capturing, also serving as reserve branches of the Brazilian Armed Forces (more specifically its Brazilian Army). They make up the majority of the police force in Brazil, but don't perform regular military police functions (as they're reservedly performed by Brazilian Army Police Offices on duty, such as the Army Police (Brazil)) because they're primarily subordinated to its governors. In São Paulo, the Military Police also operates its Military Firefighters Corps. In Rio Grande do Sul, in turn, such office is called Military Brigade (Brigada Militar) instead of Military Police partially due to the long period for which also responded for its Military Firefighters Corps (which separated from BMRS in 2013).
PCAC - Civil Police of Acre State PMAC - Military Police of Acre State PCAL - Civil Police of Alagoas State PMAL - Military Police of Alagoas State PCAP - Civil Police of Amapá State PMAP - Military Police of Amapá State PCAM - Civil Police of Amazonas State PMAM - Military Police of Amazonas State PCBA - Civil Police of Bahia State PMBA - Military Police of Bahia State PCCE - Civil Police of Ceará State PMCE - Military Police of Ceará State PCDF - Civil Police of the Federal District PMDF - Military Police of the Federal District PCES - Civil Police of Espírito Santo State PMES - Military Police of Espírito Santo State PCGO - Civil Police of Goiás State PMGO - Military Police of Goiás State PCMA - Civil Police of Maranhão State PMMA - Military Police of Maranhão State PCMT - Civil Police of Mato Grosso State PMMT - Military Police of Estado do Mato Grosso State PCMS - Civil Police of Mato Grosso do Sul State PMMS - Military Police of Mato Grosso do Sul State PCMG - Civil Police of Minas Gerais State PMMG - Military Police of Minas Gerais State PCPA - Civil Police of Pará State PMPA - Military Police of Pará State PCPB - Civil Police of Paraíba State PMPB - Military Police of Paraíba State PCPR - Civil Police of Paraná State PMPR - Military Police of Paraná State PCPE - Civil Police of Pernambuco State PMPE - Military Police of Pernambuco State PCPI - Civil Police of Piauí State PMPI - Military Police of Piauí State PCERJ - Civil Police of Rio de Janeiro State PMERJ - Military Police of Rio de Janeiro State PCRN - Civil Police of Rio Grande do Norte State PMRN - Military Police of Rio Grande do Norte State PCRS - Civil Police of Rio Grande do Sul State BMRS - Military Brigade of Rio Grande do Sul State PCRO - Civil Police of Rondônia State PMRO - Military Police of Rondônia State PCRR - Civil Police of Roraima State PMRR - Military Police of Roraima State PCSC - Civil Police of Santa Catarina State PMSC - Military Police of Santa Catarina State PCESP - Civil Police of São Paulo State PMESP - Military Police of São Paulo State PCSE - Civil Police of Sergipe State PMSE - Military Police of Sergipe State PCTO - Civil Police of Tocantins State PMTO - Military Police of Tocantins State
Canada
Law enforcement in Canada operates at the federal, provincial, and local levels. Five provinces of Canada have a dedicated police force, with jurisdiction over some or all of the province: Ontario Provincial Police (Ontario) Royal Newfoundland Constabulary (Newfoundland and Labrador) Sûreté du Québec (Quebec) Saskatchewan Marshals Service (Saskatchewan) Alberta Sheriffs Police Service (Alberta)
The federal Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) provides provincial-level policing in the remaining land area of Newfoundland and Labrador, as well as the remaining seven provinces and three territories. The RCMP began being contracted to provide provincial policing in the late 1920s as provincial police forces were disbanded and their duties contracted out to provincial divisions of the RCMP. The most recent provincial police force to be disbanded, the British Columbia Provincial Police, existed from the mid-19th century until its jurisdiction was transferred to RCMP "E" Division on August 15, 1950.
Provinces which have disbanded their provincial police may retain other provincial law enforcement agencies, such as sheriff services or conservation officers. For example, the Alberta Sheriffs Branch is responsible for traffic enforcement in Alberta together with the RCMP, despite being a law enforcement agency and not a police force, although there have been plans to create a new provincial police service "under the sheriffs".
Germany
The Landespolizei (or LaPo) is a term used in the Federal Republic of Germany to denote the law enforcement services that perform law enforcement duties in the states of Germany. The German federal constitution leaves the majority of law enforcement responsibilities to the 16 states of the country.
Baden-Württemberg Police Bavarian State Police Berlin Police Brandenburg Police Bremen Police Hamburg Police Hesse State Police Lower Saxony Police Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Police North Rhine-Westphalia Police Rhineland-Palatinate Police Saarland Police Saxony Police Saxony-Anhalt Police Schleswig-Holstein Police Thuringia Police
There also are several auxiliary state police forces.
Baden-Württemberg Voluntary Police Service Bavarian Security Watch Brandenburg Security Partner Hesse Voluntary Police Service Saxony Security Watch
Italy The Polizia di Stato (State Police), law enforcement in Italy.
India
The Constitution of India delineates the roles and responsibilities of both the central and state governments, with matters related to police, public order, and law and order falling under the purview of the state governments. India has 28 state police agencies.
Each state has a state police force and its own distinct state police services, headed by the director general of police (DGP) or commissioner of police (in metropolitan areas), who is an Indian Police Service officer. The state police forces operate under the authority of the respective state governments and are empowered to enforce laws, prevent crime, investigate offenses, and maintain public order.
Most municipal or city police agencies operate under their respective state police departments, with the exception of the Kolkata Police. State police agencies typically have jurisdiction across the entire state. However, in West Bengal, the jurisdiction of the state police excludes Kolkata, which is served by the Kolkata Police.
The police forces of union territories in India are either directly or indirectly under the purview of the Union Government. Unlike state police forces, the Delhi Police operate under the direct control of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India due to Delhi's status as both the national capital territory and a union territory. While they function under the respective union territory administrations for day-to-day operations and governance, their ultimate authority and oversight lie with the central government.
The Indian Police Service (IPS) is not a law enforcement agency in its own right; rather it is the body to which all senior police officers of all states belong regardless of the agency for whom they work. The IPS officers provide senior level leadership to law enforcement agencies, both at the state and federal levels.
+List of Indian state police agenciesSrNoStatePolice emblemPolice force1Andhra PradeshAndhra Pradesh Police2Arunachal PradeshArunachal Pradesh Police3AssamAssam Police4BiharBihar Police5ChhattisgarhChhattisgarh Police6GoaGoa Police7GujaratGujarat Police8HaryanaHaryana Police9Himachal PradeshHimachal Pradesh Police10JharkhandJharkhand Police11KarnatakaKarnataka State Police12KeralaKerala Police13Madhya PradeshMadhya Pradesh Police14MaharashtraMaharashtra Police15ManipurManipur Police16MeghalayaMeghalaya Police17MizoramMizoram Police18NagalandNagaland Police19OdishaOdisha Police20PunjabPunjab Police21RajasthanRajasthan Police22SikkimSikkim Police23Tamil NaduTamil Nadu Police24TelanganaTelangana State Police25TripuraTripura Police26Uttar PradeshUttar Pradesh Police27UttarakhandUttarakhand Police28West BengalWest Bengal Police
Mexico
Each of the 32 states of Mexico maintains a separate law enforcement agency or Policía Estatal. Each of these state forces is tasked with the protection of their citizens, keeping local order and combating insecurity and drug trafficking. Certain states including Veracruz and Nuevo León have a new model of police force designated as civilian forces (Fuerza Civil).
Aguascalientes State Police Baja California State Police Baja California Sur State Police Campeche State Police Chiapas State Police Chihuahua State Police Coahuila State Police Colima State Police Durango State Police Guanajuato State Police Guerrero State Police Hidalgo State Police Jalisco State Police Mexico City Police, a special case in both state and municipal duties throughout the 16 Boroughs of Mexico City State of Mexico Police Michoacán State Police (Replaced in 2020 with Michoacán State Highway Patrol) Morelos State Police Nayarit State Police Nuevo León Civil Force Oaxaca State Police Puebla State Police Querétaro State Police Quintana Roo State Police San Luis Potosí Guardia Civil Estatal (State Civil Guard) Sinaloa State Police Sonora State Police Tabasco State Police Tamaulipas State Police Tlaxcala State Police Veracruz State Police (Replaced with civil force in 2014) Yucatán State Police