Public Security Directorate

Public Security Directorate (PSD)
مديرية الأمن العام
Agency overview
Formed 1956
Headquarters Amman, Jordan
Agency executive
  • Atef Salamah Al-Musaideen, Director-General
Website http://www.psd.gov.jo

Jordan Public Security Directorate, or PSD (Arabic: مديرية الأمن العام) is the public security agency of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, which lies under the jurisdiction of the country's Ministry of Interior.

Background

Jordanian Audi A6 city center police car
A female police officer in Amman

Jordan's law enforcement is under the purview of the Public Security Directorate (which includes approximately 40,000 persons).[1] The Jordanian national police is subordinate to the Public Security Directorate of the Ministry of Interior.[1] The first police force in the Jordanian state, was organized after the fall of the Ottoman Empire on 11 April 1921.[2] Ali Khulqi Pasha Alsharairi was appointed as the first commander of the security force and as a National Security Counsellor (minister) in the first Transjordan government.[2] The first security force was composed of the Gendarmerie Battalion, and the Gendarmerie regiment, the reservist regiment, the regulars, and the desert patrol force.[2] Until 1956 police duties were carried out totally by the Arab Legion and the Transjordan Frontier Force. After that year, the Public Safety Directorate was established.[1]

Jordan's law enforcement ranked 24th in the world and 4th in the Middle East, in terms of police services' reliability, in the Global Competitiveness Report.[3] Jordan also ranked 13th in the world and 3rd in the Middle East in terms of prevention of organized crime.[4]

The number of female police officers is on the rise in Jordan.[5] In 1972, it was the first Arab state to introduce females to its police force.[5] The number of police women grew from 6 in 1972 to over 3,500 in 2012.[6]

The PSD established a police training center in Al-Muwaqqar which annually trains several thousands of police force members from neighboring Arab states, including; Palestine, Iraq and GCC countries.[7] Another center established by Princess Basma specialized for training women, teaches the participants on details about the Jordanian penal code, the civil defence and public security laws and training on physical fitness, combat and defence skills.[8]

PSD headquarters are located in Amman where they have an centralized system serving all areas in Jordan, designed to maintain public safety through the integration of modern equipment.[9]

The current director is major general Atef Salamah Al-Musaideen who was appointed on 27 May 2015, succeeding major general Tawfiq Al-Tawalbeh.[10]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "لمحة عن المركز" (in Arabic). Public Security Directorate. 3 January 2010. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 Rodney Carlisle (26 March 2015). Encyclopedia of Intelligence and Counterintelligence (in Arabic). Routledge. ISBN 9781317471776. Retrieved 28 May 2016.
  3. "Security & Political Stability". Jordaninvestment.com. Archived from the original on July 25, 2010. Retrieved 15 June 2010.
  4. "Jordan: The Last Arab Safe Haven". The Daily Beast. 5 October 2013. Retrieved 12 October 2015.
  5. 1 2 "Women police officers lead the way in Jordan". Al Arabiya News. 11 January 2012. Retrieved 15 October 2015.
  6. "JORDAN: Established in 1972, Jordan's Women's Police Academy made Jordan the first Arab country to recruit women to the police force, and it is still training women police officers forty years on". iTN source. 10 January 2012. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
  7. W. Andrew Terrill (2010). Global Security Watch—Jordan. ABC-CLIO. p. 101. ISBN 9780313366192. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
  8. "New policewomen join ranks of Public Security Department". The Jordan Times. 2 March 2015. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
  9. "King visits Public Security Department's headquarters". Petra. Jordan News Agency. 22 February 2016. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
  10. "New Public Security Director appointed". Petra. Jordan News Agency. 27 May 2015. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
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