National Police Act (Arab Union)

The National Police Act, 2001 (Arabic: قانون الشرطة الوطنية لعام ٢٠٠١ qānūn ash-shurṭah al-waṭanīyah li-‘ām wāḥid wa-alfayn) is the main constituting instrument for civilian law enforcement in the Arab Union, passed by the Arab Congress on 28 April 2001 and most of its elements ratified by the congresses of the union's 20 republics the following day; the only elements not ratified by republican governments were those areas of policing stipulated in the act as being under the exclusive jurisdiction of the federal government of the Arab Union.

The act places civilian policing within the republican level of jurisdiction, mandating for the existence of a unique national police service in each of the 20 republics, answerable to the respective republic's interior ministry; it also sets out the structure and responsibilities of other civilian law enforcement and security agencies under the jurisdiction of the Minister of Interior (unique to each republic). According to the Act, the national police services under their respective republican Ministry of Interior are responsible for local law enforcement and all republican-level policing. The Arab Union Sheriff Service is the uniformed federal law enforcement agency which answers to the Attorney General of the Arab Union, and handles all policing and investigations affecting two or more republics or the union as a whole, as well as enforcing federal warrants issued by the Supreme Court of the Arab Union; however, the Joint Security Committee, the Arab Union's premier security agency, may take over federal investigations at its discretion.

The Act establishes a republic's National Police as the primary legitimate policing body in the country at the republican level. The Act requires each municipality to contract with its republic's respective national police service to provide policing at the municipal level; each police district has a police board which acts as the official employer of the respective local detachment. Police boards set out general policy and guidelines relevant to their locality to further ensure compliance with national law, and oversee the budget of the department and its subordinate detachments within the police district. The hiring and training of officers, however, is entirely the responsibility of a national police service at the republican (centralised) level.

The National Police Act has a section dedicated to corrections, stating that corrections are handled by a separate agency under the republican Ministry of Interior which operates all prisons and remand centres in the republic at a centralised level, namely the Corrections Directorate. According to the act, regular police may only detain an individual who has been lawfully arrested and charged with a crime for a maximum of 48 hours, upon which time the detainee must appear before a court in a remand hearing to determine if they should be released on a recognisance of bail or remanded into custody pending trial; remanded detainees must then be immediately transferred to the custody of the Corrections Directorate, which arranges all further detention and transportation to trials and other appointments. Similarly, the Act states that the police must lawfully charge an arrestee with a crime within 12 hours of their arrest, without which the arrestee must be immediately released.

The Act also has detailed sections on the public security powers of the Military Police Directorate, an agency of the federal Ministry of Defence, the powers of which in peacetime are limited in the main to guarding military and related buildings and property and providing security alongside the republican National Police and other civilian police agencies like the Sheriff Service during large events like presidential inaugurations or visits of foreign dignitaries. For example, the Act limits the powers of arrest of military police to military personnel, requiring detained civilians to be immediately released or handed over to civilian police with any relevant evidence for formal arrest and charge. If martial law is in effect (which according to the constitution is only legitimate in wartime), the National Police Act states that the military police have full policing jurisdiction within the civilian population, and requires National Police and other agencies to cooperate with and assist the military police in public security and law enforcement.