The Dún Laoghaire Harbour Police is a small, specialised

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...

force in Dún Laoghaire,

County Dublin "Action to match our speech" , image_map = Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Dublin.svg , map_alt = map showing County Dublin as a small area of darker green on the east coast within the lighter green background of ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

operating under the jurisdiction of the

Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company A dun is an ancient or medieval fort. In Ireland and Britain it is mainly a kind of hillfort and also a kind of Atlantic roundhouse. Etymology The term comes from Irish ''dún'' or Scottish Gaelic ''dùn'' (meaning "fort"), and is cognat ...

. The force has the power of arrest under Section 54 of the ''Harbours Act 1996'

to arrest persons in connection with offences under the Act, although they are then required to hand them over to the

Garda Síochána (; meaning "the Guardian(s) of the Peace"), more commonly referred to as the Gardaí (; "Guardians") or "the Guards", is the national police service of Ireland. The service is headed by the Garda Commissioner who is appointed by the Irish Gover ...

. Prior to the passage of the Act, the Harbour Police were under the employ of the Department for the Marine and were sworn as constables under the ''Harbour, Docks & Piers Clauses Act 1847''. The force was established in 1836 as the Kingstown Harbour Police under the provisions of the ''Kingstown Harbour Act 1836'', making it the oldest extant police force in Ireland. The current name was taken in 1924.

See also