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.
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,[4] 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).
Law enforcement in Canada operates at the federal, provincial, and local levels. Three provinces of Canada have a dedicated police force, with jurisdiction over some or all of the province:
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.
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.
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.
Most municipal or city police forces 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.[5]
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.
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).
In the United States, state police (also termed highway patrol, state patrol, or state highway patrol), or state troopers, are a police body unique to 49 of the U.S. states, having statewide authority to conduct law enforcement activities and criminal investigations. Hawaii, despite a widely dispersed archipelago and having four separate county-based police agencies, still has its own statewide policing agency.
In general, these police agencies perform functions outside the jurisdiction of the county sheriff, such as enforcing traffic laws on state highways and interstate expressways, overseeing the security of the state capitol complex, protecting the governor, training new officers for local police forces too small to operate an academy, providing technological and scientific services, supporting local police and helping to coordinate multi-jurisdictional task force activity in serious or complicated cases in those states that grant full police powers statewide. A general trend has been to bring all of these agencies under a state department of public safety. Additionally, they may serve under different state departments such as the highway patrol under the state department of transportation and the marine patrol under the state department of natural resources.
Twenty-three U.S. states use the term state police, fifteen use the term highway patrol, seven use the term state patrol, and three use the term state highway patrol, while Alaska's agency is the "Division of Alaska State Troopers". The term highway patrol tends to be more common in the southeast and mountain west states. Hawaii is the only state with a Sheriff Division of the Hawaii Department of Law Enforcement with statewide jurisdiction.
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