Law enforcement in Madeira is part of the
law enforcement in Portugal.
The atlantic archipelago of
Madeira constitutes one of the two
autonomous regions of Portugal
The two Autonomous Regions of Portugal from 1999 ( pt, Regiões Autónomas de Portugal) are the Azores (''Região Autónoma dos Açores'') and Madeira (''Região Autónoma da Madeira''). Together with Continental Portugal (''Portugal Continenta ...
, with a number of devolved powers being performed by its Regional Government. However, the law enforcement in the region remains mainly under the responsibility of the
Central Government of Portugal, being performed by the several Portuguese national police agencies. There are, however, minor law enforcement agencies dependent from the Regional Government of Madeira like the forest police and the sanitary, food and economical police.
The several police forces in Madeira provide security for the archipelago's 797 km² of territory and population of 267,000
[2011 Census]
National law enforcement agencies operating in Madeira
#
Public Security Police
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...
(PSP) – Regional Command of Madeira: responsible for the preventive police in the region. In contrast to what happens in
Mainland Portugal
Continental Portugal ( pt, Portugal continental, ) or mainland Portugal comprises the bulk of the Portuguese Republic, namely that part on the Iberian Peninsula and so in Continental Europe, having approximately 95% of the total population and 9 ...
– where PSP only operates in the main urban
metropolitan areas and cities – in Madeira it is also responsible for rural policing;
#
National Republican Guard (GNR) – Territorial Command of Madeira: responsible for customs, border and maritime patrol. In contrast to what happens in Mainland Portugal, GNR has not rural policing responsibilities in Madeira. The presence of GNR in Madeira dates only from 1993, when it absorbed the former
Fiscal Guard
, mottotranslated = For the Motherland and for the Law
, formedyear = 1885
, formedmonthday = September 17
, preceding1 = Barrier guards ({{italic correction, {{lang, pt, Guardas barreiras )
, dissolved = 1993
, superseding ...
, including its units and responsibilities in the archipelago;
#
Judicial Police
The judicial police, judiciary police, or justice police are (depending on both country and legal system) either a branch, separate police agency or type of duty performed by law enforcement structures in a country. The term judiciary police is mo ...
(PJ) – Criminal Investigation Department of Funchal: responsible for the criminal investigation related with serious crimes;
#
Foreign and Border Service (SEF) – Regional Directory of Madeira: responsible for border and immigration control.
See also
*
Law enforcement in the Azores
*
Law enforcement in Portugal
Notes
Sources
# World Police Encyclopedia, ed. by Dilip K. Das & Michael Palmiotto published by Taylor & Francis. 2004,
# World Encyclopedia of Police Forces and Correctional Systems,second edition, 2006 by Gale.
# Sullivan, Larry E. Encyclopedia of Law Enforcement. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 2005.
Madeira
Society of Madeira
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