| Agencyname: | Albanian State Police |
| Nativename: | Policia e Shtetit Shqiptar |
| Logocaption: | Patch of the State Police |
| Flag: | Flamuri i Policisë së Shtetit.svg |
| Flagcaption: | Flag of the State Police |
| Commonname: | Policia |
| Formed: | 13 January 1913 |
| Preceding1: |
|
| Employees: | ~ 10,958[1] [2] |
| Country: | Albania |
| National: | Yes |
| Sizearea: | 28,748 km2 |
| Sizepopulation: | 2,793,592 |
| Governingbody: | Government of Albania |
| Constitution1: | Law on "State Police" |
| Police: | Yes |
| Local: | Yes |
| Oversightbody: | Ministry of Internal Affairs |
| Headquarters: | Bajram Curri Boulevard, Tirana |
| Electeetype: | Minister |
| Minister1name: | Ervin Hoxha |
| Minister1pfo: | Minister |
| Chief1name: | Muhamet Rrumbullaku |
| Chief1position: | Director General |
The Albanian State Police (Albanian: Policia e Shtetit) is the national police and law enforcement agency which operates throughout the Republic of Albania. The collapse of the Communist system and the establishment of political pluralism post-1991 brought important changes to the structure of the Albanian Police. The Ministry of Public Order and the General Directorate of Police were established in April 1991, and the new law of July 1991 established the Public Order Police. Nearly 80% of police manpower, i.e. personnel who had served under the previous system, were replaced by new recruits. On 4 November 1991, the Albanian Police was accepted as a member of Interpol.
The emergency number is 129 or 112 for Various Matters.
The original Albanian Police was founded on 13 January 1913 by the government of Ismail Qemali, Albania's first prime minister.[3]
See main article: Albanian Rebellion of 1997. Following the collapse of the Albanian economy in January–February 1997 in the wake of the implosion of the Ponzi pyramid banking schemes promoted by the government,[4] increasing insurgency in early March led to the Police and Republican Guard deserting en masse because it became clear they were unlikely to be paid, leaving their armouries unlocked,[5] which were promptly looted by parties unknown, believed to mostly have been the local crime bodies and self-appointed militias: many of the weapons eventually surfaced in the ethnic fighting in Kosovo. The resulting anarchy led a number of nations to use military forces to evacuate citizens,[6] [7] culminating in the UN authorising Operation Alba ("Daybreak"), a short-term military stabilisation force led by the Italian Army, tasked with facilitating the repatriation of foreigners and laying the foundations for another International Organisation to undertake the longer-term restabilisation. The political debate eventually settled in Europe within the body responsible for the defence diplomatic coordination of the Continent, the Council of the Western European Union. In a 2-hour meeting which convened at 1400 hrs on 2 May 1997,[8] the WEU Council decided on the immediate establishment of the Multinational Advisory Police Element, sending a pathfinder officer, a Norwegian Police Colonel, the same evening.The Italian force in Operation Alba predicated the Command structure of MAPE passing into the Italian Carabinieri, General Pietro Pistolese, previously commanding the Genoa region, bringing his team with him. Four phases followed, assessment, reconstruction, support of the Albanian Police control during the Kosovo Crisis, and finally build-down and handback in early 2001, which was somewhat accelerated ahead of the transfer of the WEU's operational responsibilities to the Council of the EU on 30 June 2001. The reconstruction principally involved the reconstruction of the Judicial system and the training of Police, but the Finance section also accommodated economic specialists acting as the principal feedback into the correction of the Judicial system. The Command Team later formed the core of the European Union Border Assistance Mission Rafah from 2005 onwards.
According to a survey produced in 2009 for the United States Agency for International Development Albanian's perception of the police was as follows:[9]
Given that this was within eight years of the departure of the MAPE rebuilding mission, great concern must be expressed about the capacity of the police force to maintain the legal norms required of an aspirant EU State.
In 2014, the Ministry of Internal Affairs started a modernization process of the Albanian police, to modernize its equipment and methods. The first step was the acquisition of new police vans and cruisers, the next one was the installment of body cameras on police officers to improve their service and to be analysed after an operation. Uniforms of the every uniformed department of the Albanian police were overhauled and the logo was also changed.
Several operations were held from the years 2014 to 2016, in various criminally active regions of Albania (i.e. Lazarat) to restore confidence and belief of the Albanian public to support the actions of police. Body cameras are becoming an integral part of the Albanian police, used on various drug busts and high-profile operations, released afterwards to the public.
In 2015, the State Police underwent reorganizational reforms which were expected to continue for several years.[10] It implemented a new hierarchical structure composed of nine hierarchic ranks.[11] [12]
| Rank insignia of the Albanian State Police 1991-2014[15] | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Uniform | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | |
| Rank: | First Director Albanian: Drejtues i Parë | Director Albanian: Drejtues | Chief Commissioner Albanian: Kryekomisar | Commissioner Albanian: Komisar | Lieutenant Commissioner Albanian: Komisar toger | Chief Inspector Albanian: Kryeinspektor | Inspector Albanian: Inspektor | Lieutenant Inspector Albanian: Inspektor toger | Chief Assistant Albanian: Kryeasistent | First Assistant Albanian: Asistent i parë | Assistant Albanian: Asistent | First Agent Albanian: Agjent i parë | Agent Albanian: Agjent | |
Albanian State Police has much Communist era equipment left in its storage, still in use today. However, since 2014 ASP (Albanian State Police) has been modernizing its uniforms, vehicles and weapons, introducing newer Western equipment to replace their Soviet era equipment.
The Albanian State Police uniforms have undergone several changes since 1991. Some visible changes are:
Since 2017 Government of Albania has been contracting with multiple countries, purchasing brand new weapons to replace their old Communist era weapons.
Plenty of vehicles have been bought from the Albanian Government, what is most surprising is the diversity when purchasing vehicles. While many police forces around the world, usually tend to stick with 2-3 car brands in their fleets, Albania has been known to have numerous car brands in their police fleets, with the most popular car brand being Hyundai. Here is a full list of the vehicles used and currently used by Albanian State Police since 2010:
| 1 | Halim Gostivari | 13 January 1913 | 24 May 1913 |
| 2 | Fehim Mezhgorani | 24 May 1913 | 30 January 1914 |
| 3 | Hil Mosi | 1 February 1914 | 30 March 1914 |
| 4 | Veli Vasjari | 1 April 1914 | 30 June 1914 |
| 5 | Sulejman Kërçiku | 2 October 1914 | 27 January 1916 |
| – | Halim Gostivari | 28 August 1919 | 17 December 1920 |
| 6 | Ahmet Sinani | 17 December 1920 | 10 January 1922 |
| – | Veli Vasjari | 11 January 1922 | 22 April 1922 |
| – | Halim Gostivari | 22 April 1922 | 21 August 1922 |
| 7 | Musa Çelepia | 21 August 1922 | 26 December 1922 |
| 8 | Hamza Isaraj | 10 December 1924 | 25 December 1924 |
| 9 | Qazim Bodinaku | 24 February 1926 | 7 July 1926 |
| 10 | Rustem Ymeri | 20 December 1926 | 1927 |
| – | Hil Mosi | 3 September 1928 | 1929 |
| 11 | Zef Kadarja | 31 August 1940 | 23 March 1942 |
| 12 | Theodor Stamati | 24 March 1942 | 26 November 1942 |
| 13 | Shyqyri Borshi | 26 November 1942 | 4 June 1943 |
| 14 | Gjush Deda | 4 June 1943 | 30 August 1943 |
| 15 | Kolë Radovani | 1 September 1943 | 13 October 1943 |
| 16 | Skënder Selmanaj | 15 October 1943 | 10 January 1944 |
| 17 | Tahir Kolgjini | 10 January 1944 | 24 November 1944 |
| 18 | Namik Xhafa | 24 November 1944 | 20 March 1947 |
| 19 | Lako Polena | 24 March 1947 | 2 February 1948 |
| 20 | Sali Ormeni | 16 February 1948 | 2 March 1951 |
| 21 | Maqo Çomo | 2 March 1951 | March 1952 |
| 22 | Delo Balili | March 1952 | 1 May 1956 |
| 23 | Xhule Çiraku | 1 May 1956 | February 1968 |
| 24 | Kasëm Kaso | February 1968 | January 1980 |
| 25 | Agron Tafa | January 1980 | August 1982 |
| – | Kasëm Kaso | August 1982 | 31 December 1984 |
| 26 | Dilaver Bengasi | 1 January 1987 | 17 July 1990 |
| 27 | Pandeli Lluka | 17 July 1990 | 1 May 1992 |
| 28 | Astrit Mehaj | 1 May 1992 | 22 June 1993 |
| 29 | Sabri Jacaj | 22 June 1993 | 15 June 1995 |
| 30 | Agim Shehu | 15 June 1995 | 30 June 1997 |
| 31 | Sokol Baraj | 3 July 1997 | 16 May 1998 |
| 32 | Besnik Bregu | 16 May 1998 | 4 September 1998 |
| 33 | Hasan Ahmetaj | 4 September 1998 | 9 November 1998 |
| 34 | Veton Gjoliku | 9 November 1998 | 20 January 1999 |
| 35 | Veli Myftari | 20 January 1999 | 22 November 2000 |
| 36 | Bilbil Mema | 23 November 2000 | 19 August 2002 |
| 37 | Bajram Ibraj | 12 September 2002 | 30 March 2007 |
| 38 | Ahmet Prençi | 30 March 2007 | 28 October 2009 |
| 39 | Hysni Burgaj | 28 October 2009 | 9 September 2013 |
| 40 | Artan Didi | 10 October 2013 | 31 March 2015 |
| 41 | Haki Çako | 15 April 2015 | 8 January 2018 |
| 42 | Ardi Veliu | 5 February 2018 | 8 October 2021 |
| 43 | Gledis Nano | 8 October 2021 | 31 August 2022 |
| 44 | Muhamet Rrumbullaku | 8 September 2022 | Incumbent |