Jordan Police Forces
Traffic policeman, Amman
Desert policeman on a camel
Desert police making coffee, Khawr Ramm
In 1989 primary responsibility for the routine maintenance of
law and order was exercised by the Public Security Force, the
country's national police establishment. Centralized in time of
peace within the Public Security Directorate of the Ministry of
Interior, the police were subordinated to the Ministry of Defense
and under the control of the army commander in the event of war.
Traditionally, the police have been commanded by an officer with
the title of director general of public security, usually a senior
army general, who reported to the minister of interior. Officers
assigned to this important position were personally selected by
Hussein on the basis of their military record, leadership
qualifications, and loyalty to the crown. As of early 1989, the
head of the police organization was Lieutenant General Abdul Hadi
al Majali, formerly chief of the general staff.
An outgrowth of the Arab Legion, the Public Security Force was
created by law in July 1956, when the legion was separated into
distinct police and army elements. During the twenty months of
martial law instituted by Hussein from April 1957 to November 1958,
the police were again subordinated to army control. As domestic and
external threats to Hashimite rule were brought under better
control, a new law in July 1958 reestablished the separation of the
two security forces.
The strength of the Public Security Force was estimated to be
about 4,000 personnel in the late 1980s. A considerable
augmentation of the Desert Police Force was reported to be planned
in 1988. The relatively large size of the force, combined with the
army support, testified to the importance of the internal security
function.
The police were classified broadly according to areas of
geographic responsibility. The three major divisions were the
metropolitan (Amman), rural (small towns and villages), and desert
contingents. Police headquarters in Amman provided both an
administrative control point for the countrywide system and an
array of centralized technical functions that supported police
activities throughout the kingdom. A reorganization of the Public
Security Directorate announced in 1987 reduced the previous
five-tiered structure to only three tiers. Below the central
headquarters, with its overall responsibility for police, security,
and law enforcement activities, were ten regional directorates.
Eight of the directorates corresponded to the governorates, and one
covered the city of Amman and its suburbs. The desert region was a
separate directorate and was patrolled by the Desert Police Force.
Under the 1987 plan, the ten regions were to be subdivided into
fifty-nine security centers, each of which typically would be
responsible for an area of five to ten square kilometers and serve
50,000 people.
Public Security Force missions included the usual tasks of
maintenance of public order, protection of life and property,
investigation of criminal activity, and apprehension of suspected
offenders. In addition to these basic functions, special elements
of the force performed such duties as traffic control, licensing of
vehicles and certain business activities, enforcement of trade
prohibitions and zoning ordinances, locating missing persons,
guarding shrines and other public places, assisting customs and
immigration officials in the performance of their duties, and
operating the country's penal institutions. In announcing the 1987
reorganization, the director general of public security emphasized
an increased social role for the police and strengthened police
relations with the local community. He described the police as the
conduit through which the public could seek assistance from various
government authorities in resolving social problems.
Functionally, the responsibilities assigned to the police were
carried out according to a tripartite division of responsibilities
at the headquarters level--administrative, judicial, and support
operations. Administrative police were charged with prevention of
crime and routine maintenance of security and public order.
Criminal offenses were under the jurisdiction of judicial police,
who conducted criminal investigations, apprehended suspects, and
assisted the public prosecutor's office in prosecuting accused
offenders. Support police performed budget, planning, training,
public affairs, communications, and logistic functions. Insofar as
was possible, regional police activities throughout the country
conformed to this division of responsibilities. Modern
communications facilities connecting regional directorates with the
headquarters in Amman provided a direct link to specialized
elements such as the Criminal Investigation Department's modern
police laboratory, which also assisted regional and local police in
their investigations.
The Special Police Force within the Public Security Directorate
had principal responsibility for countering terrorism. As part of
its antiterrorism program, the Jordanian government cooperated with
various international bodies in sharing information and resources.
A multimillion dollar project to improve police communications,
announced in 1988, was another element of the antiterrorist
campaign. In connection with this project, the Special Police Force
had participated in bomb detection programs for dogs and their
handlers offered by the United States. The Desert Police Force,
which had responsibility for detecting and stopping drug and gun
smuggling, had also been greatly expanded.
Depending on their location, the police were armed with
pistols, rifles, nightsticks, or light automatic weapons. In Amman
and the larger towns, special crowd and riot control equipment and
armored vehicles were available. The police force was fully
motorized, had good communications facilities, and operated much on
the pattern of European law enforcement agencies. Police units in
rural areas were assigned less modern equipment, and in the desert
areas the traditional system of camel-mounted desert patrols
survived, supplemented by improved communications gear and
four-wheel-drive vehicles.
Police personnel have been recruited throughout the service's
existence through voluntary enlistments. The National Service Law
of 1976 ensured that most younger members of the force would have
had some military training before entering police work. Training
for both officers and enlisted ranks was provided primarily by the
staff of the Royal Police Academy in Amman, but some recruits
received their instruction at the separate Police Training School
in Az Zarqa. The school at Az Zarqa also welcomed large numbers of
police trainees from friendly Arab countries. In addition to
courses in general and administrative police work, cadets at the
academy studied the country's legal system, underwent physical
training, and were instructed in the use of firearms and other
police equipment. Judicial training included courses in criminal
investigation procedures, court operations, and the criminal code.
As part of efforts to improve the general education level of the
Public Security Force, the government announced in 1987 that
officer recruits would be required to have university degrees and
NCO recruits would be required to be graduates of high schools or
vocational schools.
The first Arab country to admit women to its police
establishment, Jordan opened a women's police academy in Amman in
1972. Before being assigned to positions in law enforcement, the
women recruits completed a four-month classroom course followed by
one month of practical training in the field. Assignment
opportunities expanded steadily after the program began. Women
served primarily in the police laboratory, in budgeting and
accounting, public relations, licensing, and in prison operations.
Some served in street patrols and traffic control in Amman and in
border security.
Ranks and insignia of the Public Security Force were identical
with those of the army, although job titles were necessarily
different. Police uniforms in the Amman metropolitan area were dark
blue in winter and light tan in summer, resembling in style those
of the Royal Jordanian Air Force. Rural police wore an olive drab
uniform lighter in shade than that of the army but otherwise
similar. The Desert Police Force retained their traditional Arab
garb. Police pay scales were about the same as those of the army
but differed somewhat in the special allowances authorized. The
conditions of service were sufficiently favorable to attract and
retain enough personnel to staff the force fully.
Data as of December 1989
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