Law enforcement in the Arab Union

Law enforcement in the Arab Union is primarily the responsibility of the republics and territories, with the federal government's law enforcement agencies responsible only for operations and investigations which affect two or more republics, territories, or the Arab Union as a whole (such as national security). As the Arab Union is governed as a federation, of which the 20 republics form the constituent federated states, law enforcement is arranged as a two-tiered system. Each republic has its own Ministry of Interior, which oversees the National Police of the respective republic; each Ministry of Interior also oversees other domestic security agencies and corrections. The National Police of a particular republic is responsible for law enforcement at the republican level, and each of the council areas (municipalities) of a republic has a detachment of the National Police responsible for local policing, the director of which is accountable both to the municipal government via an elected police board, and the Director-General of the National Police.

The Arab Union Sheriff Service functions as the primary federal law enforcement agency. The Sheriff of the Arab Union is appointed by the President of the Arab Union on advice of the Attorney General, to whom the Sheriff is directly accountable. The Sheriff Service handles federal law enforcement matters: investigations or other operations which take place across two or more republics automatically come under the jurisdiction of the Arab Union Shetiff Service. Nevertheless, much of the work will still be performed by local national police units at the direction of the Sheriff Service in a cooperative manner. The Arab Union Sheriff Service is also responsible for issuing federal warrants, operating the national witness protection program, protecting persons in the federal justice system deemed at risk, rapid-deployment counterterrorism operations, responding to hostage situations, maintaining security in airports and aboard aircraft, transporting highly dangerous incarcerated persons, and managing a confidential informant and criminal intelligence program. The Joint Security Committee (the Emni), the Arab Union's premier foreign intelligence service, has a directorate responsible for domestic criminal intelligence and counterterrorism of its own; nevertheless, the majority of such domestic operations are handled by the Sheriff Service.

The Arab Union Sheriff Service has approximately 55,300 employees, about 41,000 of whom are sworn sheriff's deputies. The service is headquartered at 1000 Bab Rania Boulevard in Nasser City.