National Police Service (Bulgaria)

Law enforcement agency

The National Police Service (Bulgarian: Национална Служба Полиция), also known as the General Directorate "National Police" (Bulgarian: Главна дирекция "Национална полиция", ГДНП) is an independent agency of the Ministry of the Interior responsible for general law enforcement in Bulgaria.^[1]

History

Directorate for Police and State Security (1925–1944)

With the creation of the "Law for administration and police" in 1925 was established the "Police and State Security Directorate" . Its duties included enforcing laws and ensuring the safety of the country. It continued to function until 1944 with the creation of the People's Militia.

Militia (1944–1989)

The People's Militia (Bulgarian: Народна милиция) was established by the Council of Ministers with Decree No. 1 on 10 September 1944 (one day after the communist coup).^[2] The Directorate of the People's Militia was structured into two departments: State Security and People's Militia.^[3][4] On April 1, 1947, the Main Directorate of the People's Militia was established, which included the Directorate of State Security and the Directorate of the People's Militia. The militia functioned as a basic police force, but also acted as an intelligence agency and spied on both its own and foreign citizens, secretly gathering information for the communist party. With the democratic changes of 1991, the People's Militia was replaced by the National Police.^[5][6]

General Directorate of the National Police (1991–present)

With the fall of communism in 1991 was established the National Police Directorate and later, in 1993 was accepted the new law for the national police. In 2008 the national police numbered 47000 officers and 5000 administrative workers. In 2022 a total of 53114 officers and ~4000 civilian workers served under the GDNP.[1]

Directors

• Encho Staykov (September 1944)
• Radenko Vidinsky (September – November 1944)
• Rusi Hristozov (November 1944 – April 1947)
• Blagoi Penev (January 10, 1948 – April 20, 1950)
• Major General Georgi Krastev (March – October 1963)
• Colonel Petko Stoyanov (1953 – May 1954; 1957 – 1963)
• Grigor Shopov (June 18, 1963 – ?)
• Major General Georgi Krastev (? – April 1966)
• Lieutenant General Nikola Angelov (April 1966 – December 1969)
• Major General Kostadin Iliev (July 17, 1972 – October 22, 1981)
• Major General Ivan Dimitrov (October 22, 1981 – February 21, 1990)
• Colonel Hristo Velichkov (1990)
• Colonel Viktor Mihailov (1990 – December 1992)
• Major General Hristo Marinski (January 3 – February 19, 1997)
• Colonel Slavcho Bosilkov (February 19, 1997 – December 3, 1998)
• Major General Vasil Vasilev (December 3, 1998 – December 15, 2003)
• Major General Ilia Iliev (December 15, 2003 – September 21, 2005)
• Lieutenant General Valentin Petrov (September 21, 2005 – November 28, 2007)
• Chief Commissioner Veselin Petrov (November 28, 2007 – July 1, 2008)
• Chief Commissioner Krasimir Petrov (July 1, 2008 – November 25, 2013)
• Chief Commissioner Todor Grebenarov (November 25, 2013 – February 24, 2015)
• Chief Commissioner Hristo Terziyski (February 24, 2015 – July 24, 2020)
• Senior Commissioner Nikolay Hadzhiev (July 24, 2020 – June 8, 2021)
• Chief Commissioner Stanimir Stanev  (June 8, 2021 – January 4, 2022)
• Senior Commissioner Atanas Ilkov (January 4, 2022 – January 7, 2022)
• Chief Commissioner Vencislav Kirchev (January 7, 2022 – August 9, 2022)
• Atanas Ilkov (since August 9, 2022 – current director of the National Police)

Structure

The National Police has the following structure:^[7]

• General Directorate "National Police"
• Director
  • departments and sectors directly subordinated to the Director
  • Deputy Director
    • Criminal Police Department
    • Economic Police Department
  • Deputy Director
    • Department for Investigations
    • Department for Methodic Supervision of Investigations
    • independent sectors
  • Deputy Director
    • Public Order and Territorial Police Department – Security Police, Traffic Police
    • Specialized Police Forces

Equipment, uniforms and vehicles

The Makarov handgun. Copies of the original are produced locally at the Arsenal Weapons plant in Kazanlak. Most popular pistol in the Bulgarian Police.

The Walther PDP. Bought in bulk since 2020. Second most popular handgun, though mostly used in the bigger cities and by higher ranked police in the countryside.

A Haval H6, common SUV used by the police since their purchase in 2015.

A Skoda Rapid police car patrolling a rural area

A traffic police officer stands next to his Kia Ceed patrol vehicle, pulling another car over for inspection.

Bulgarian police officers being attributed their brand new BMW M340i xDrive, with a 6 cylinder engine producing 410 HP.

Ranks and shoulder insignia of the Bulgarian police officers

Others

See also

• Ministry of Justice

Crime:

• Crime in Bulgaria

References

1. "National Police Service". Mvr.bg. 2012-09-21. Archived from the original on 2012-10-03. Retrieved 2014-04-21.
2. Team Marica (2018-09-10). Народната милиция ни пази от 1944-та [The People's Militia has been protecting us since 1944]. marica.bg (in Bulgarian). Retrieved 2023-01-12.
3. На 10 септември 1944 г. е създадена Народната милиция [On September 10, 1944, the People's Militia was established]. Здраве и култура (in Bulgarian). Retrieved 2023-01-12.
4. Petkova, Petya (2019-09-10). На 10 септември 1944 г. в България е създадена Народна милиция [On September 10, 1944, a People's Militia was established in Bulgaria]. Patrioti Net (in Bulgarian). Retrieved 2023-01-12.
5. Народната милиция празнува 70 години [The People's Militia celebrates 70 years]. Фактор (in Bulgarian). Retrieved 2023-01-12.
6. История [History]. agentibg.com (in Bulgarian). Retrieved 2023-01-12.
7. "Organization chart of the National Police" (PDF). Official website of the Ministry of Interior Affairs. 24 January 2020.

External links

• Official website