Territorial police (Arab Union)

Territorial police is a term used in the National Police Act of the Arab Union. It describes the most common type of civilian law enforcement agency in the union. According to the National Police Act, a territorial police force is a police agency assigned jurisdiction over a particular police district, which consists of one or more municipalities. Territorial police are distinct from the national police of each of the 20 republics, which handle law enforcement at the republican level, as well as federal law enforcement and security agencies like the All-Union Police and Joint Security Committee, which have jurisdiction over the entire Arab Union.

Most of the republics have multiple territorial police agencies, which derive their authority from and answer to the respective republic's Ministry of Interior, which also oversees the republic's National Police. Bahrain, Qatar and the Gulf Republic are the only republics which do not have a territorial police force, with their National Police responsible for policing all municipalities in addition to republican-level policing.

Of the 23 territories of the Arab Union, unorganised territories (those without a devolved government) are policed by local detachments of the All-Union Police Service; organised territories, on the other hand, typically have a single "territorial police" force which answers to the organised territory's devolved government and which is responsible for policing the whole territory at both the local (municipal) and territorial level. The All-Union Police as well as other federal agencies maintain jurisdiction in organised territories for law enforcement matters under federal jurisdiction, like in the 20 republics.