Shanghai Municipal Police

Shanghai Municipal Police
Flag of the Shanghai Municipal Council
Flag of the Shanghai Municipal Council
AbbreviationSMP
MottoLatin: Omnia Juncta In Uno
All joined as one
Agency overview
FormedSeptember 1854
Dissolved31 July 1943
Employees
  • 4,739 (1936)
  • 3,466 (Chinese branch)
  • 457 (foreign branch)
  • 558 (Sikh branch)[1]
  • 258 (Japanese branch)
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdictionShanghai International Settlement
Map of police area (red)
Size22.598 km2 (8.725 sq mi)
Population1,074,794m (1934)
Legal jurisdictionShanghai International Settlement
Governing bodyShanghai Municipal Council
General nature
Operational structure
HeadquartersCentral Police Station, Foochow Road, Shanghai
Child agencies
Facilities
Stations14
Shanghai Municipal Police
Traditional Chinese上海公共租界工部局警務處
Simplified Chinese上海公共租界工部局警务处
Literal meaningShanghai Public Foreign Concession Ministry of Works Office Police Affairs Department
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinShànghǎi Gōnggòng Zūjiè Gōng Bù Jú Jǐng Wù Chù
Wade–GilesShang-hai Kung-kung Tsu-chieh Kung Pu Chü Ching Wu Ch'u

The Shanghai Municipal Police (SMP; Chinese: 上海公共租界工部局警務處) was the police force of the Shanghai Municipal Council which governed the Shanghai International Settlement between 1854 and 1943, when the settlement was retroceded to Chinese control.

Initially composed of Europeans, most of them Britons, the force included Chinese after 1864, and was expanded over the next 90 years to include a Sikh Branch (established 1884), a Japanese contingent (from 1916) and a volunteer part-time special police (from 1918). In 1941, it acquired a Russian Auxiliary Detachment (formerly the Russian Regiment of the Shanghai Volunteer Corps).

  1. ^ Pages 229 & 231, "Red Turbans on the Bund: Sikh Migrants, Policemen and Revolutionaries in Shanghai 1886-1945", Cao Yin, National University of Singapore 2016