Law enforcement in Peru

Law enforcement in Peru is carried out by two organizations under the direction of the Ministry of the Interior:

  • The Peruvian National Police (Spanish: Policía Nacional del Perú, PNP), which acts as the national police force of Peru, and functions at both a state and local level. The Peruvian National Police acts mainly, according to Peruvian reglamented law, as a traffic control force.[1] While it has other squadrons that nominally fight crime, the only effectively organized of them is Black Eagles, the bank security squadron.
  • Watchmen Units (Spanish: Unidades de Serenazgo), which function as a dedicated municipal police force with limited jurisdiction on certain Peruvian cities and districts of Lima. Serenazgo officers have fewer legal powers than the National Police.

The majority of the police force is plagued by corruption.[2][3][4][5]

  1. ^ "Policia Nacional del Perú". Archived from the original on 2012-12-01. Retrieved 2014-05-07.
  2. ^ "Peruvian police sanctioned for corrupt acts - Peru this Week". Archived from the original on 2014-05-08. Retrieved 2014-05-07.
  3. ^ "Police Corruption Fuels Rise of Extortion in Peru". 17 January 2014. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
  4. ^ "Interior Minister: Police Working on Rooting Out Corrupt Officers". 18 December 2013. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
  5. ^ Collyns, Dan (11 October 2011). "Peru president replaces senior police officers in 'anti-corruption purge'". the Guardian. Retrieved 4 April 2018.