National police (Arab Union)

In the Arab Union, the national police (Arabic: الشرطة الوطنية ash-shurṭah al-waṭanīyah) refers to the civilian law enforcement agency coming under the jurisdiction of the government of any one of the Arab Union's 20 republics, via the respective republic's Ministry of Interior. They each use the same ranking system, and are each responsible for all local- and republican-level policing within their republic (policing within and across all municipalities of the republic), patrol of republican highways and other intercity roadways, and providing all necessary security services for all three branches of the republican government and related institutions. For example, the Palestinian National Police is the respective civilian police service of the Palestinian Arab Republic. The National Police handle the majority of law enforcement across the Arab Union, while the minority of cases coming under federal jurisdiction are mainly handled by the Arab Union Sheriff Service.

National police services are governed by the National Police Act, 2001. Before that, each republic already had a national police service, but their powers differed across republics and were not very well-defined, as prior to the act's passing in 2001, the only legislation to be referred to regarding national police was the constitution and also republican legislature-passed bills regarding the formation and responsibilities of the republic's police; these latter bills could in many areas be inconsistent and even conflicting, and were abolished by the 2001 act which made national police a uniform element while retaining each republic's jurisdiction over its national police service.