# Lithuanian Police Force

Law enforcement in Lithuania is the responsibility of a national police under the jurisdiction of the Interior Ministry. The main institution is the Lithuanian Police Department (Lithuanian: Lietuvos Policijos Departamentas) led by the Police Commissar General.

## History

The origins of the Lithuanian police could be traced back to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, when the first Boni Ordinis Commission (literally, Good Order Commission) was established in Gardinas in 1776 (later in Brest, Minsk, Kaunas and other cities). These institutions were directly subordinate to the Sejm of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. However, the regional magnates were resisting the reforms as they saw the new institutions as a restriction of their authority. In 1775, the Permanent Council of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth established a Police department, but it did not have the authority over the Boni Ordinis Commissions and served primarily as an advisory body. In 1791, the Great Sejm established the Police Commission of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. A separate Police Commission of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania with the headquarters in Vilnius was established in 1793. It is considered to be the predecessor of the contemporary Ministry of the Interior.
The origins of the contemporary police are the volunteer militia formed in 1918 after the declaration of the Republic of Lithuania. The uniforms were approved in 1919 and the first laws regulating the police were adopted on 14 May 1920. The organisation was formally renamed to police on 1 January 1924. The police was divided into public police and criminal police. There were several reforms and reorganizations in the following years and the Police Department was established on 1 January 1935, which composed of public, border, railway, private and water police divisions. In 1927, police employed 1262 officers, while in 1940 police had 2735 officers.
The current form of police was established on 11 December 1990, following the adoption of the Law on Police. In 1991, Lithuania joined Interpol. Since joining the European Union, Lithuania is also a member of Europol.
* Lithuanian traffic police officer during the Interwar period.
* Lithuanian police officers in 2022
* Lithuanian police officer in 2022
* Police car in Vilnius
* Police cars in Vilnius

## Structure and branches

Lithuanian Police Department is established under the Ministry of the Interior. It is led by the Police Commissioner General. The department consists of ten County Police Headquarters (Lithuanian: apskrities vyriausiasis policijos komisariatas, literally county chief police commissariat). They are further divided into sub-units of local police.
Additionally, the Police Department consists of the following specialized institutions:
* Traffic Police Service
* Criminal Police Bureau
* Police Anti-terrorist Operations Unit ARAS
* Forensic Science Centre
* Police School
* Headquarters of the Police Department (LTPD)
* Vilnius County Police Headquarters
* Vilnius City 1st Police Station
* Kaunas County Police Headquarters
* Traffic Police Headquarters
* ARAS police tactical unit headquarters

## Ranks

Lithuanian police use the following system of ranks:
| Highest rank officer | Senior rank officers | Senior rank officers | Senior rank officers | Middle rank officers | Middle rank officers | Middle rank officers |
| Generalinis komisaras | Vyriausiasis komisaras | Vyresnysis komisaras | Komisaras | Komisaras inspektorius | Vyresnysis inspektorius | Inspektorius |
| Commissioner general | Chief commissioner | Senior commissioner | Commissioner | Commissioner inspector | Senior inspector | Inspector |
First rank officers :
* Viršila
* Sergeant