The Reform of the Romanian Police Forces between Necessity and Possibility

• Author: ?u?u Pi?leag
• Position: Professor, PhD, Danubius University of Galati, Romania
• Pages: 279-285

ISSN: 2067 – 9211 International Relations in the Contemporary World. Geopolitics and Diplomacy

279

The Reform of the Romanian Police

Forces between Necessity and Possibility

Țuțu Pișleag1

Abstract: Police Forces today face new challenges requiring the requirement to redefine (review) procedures

to identify the most effective responses. All these years, the theme of police reform in Romania has been a

constant one. Under these conditions we must consider the particular factors in which these forces were

established and evolved o ver time. The purpose of this article concerns the basic aspects from the legislative

perspective of the organization and functioning of the public order forces in Romania and the arguments for

which the gendarmerie forces must be rethought as police forces in the field of Public Order, and by reference

to the most important moments in the evolution of this institution. The Romanian Gendarmerie was founded

on the French model, but the developments were interrupted by histo rical events that fundamentally changed

its role and duties.

Keywords: reform; police; gendarmerie; government authorities; Public Service; Public Order

The analysis of the normative acts that regulate the organization and functioning of the Romanian

Police, the Romanian Border Police and the Romanian Gendarmerie highlights a common aspect in

their definition as specialized state institutions and components of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. At

the same time, the legislative framework also stipulates that the Romanian Gendarmerie has military

status, but in reality, it has civilian attributions, and “the activity of the Romanian Police is a

specialized public service and is performed in the interest of the person, the community and state

institutions, exclusively on the basis and in the execution of the law”2. At the same time, we find that

in Romania it is organized a centralized police system, specific to the European continent, through the

existence of two forces, police and gendarmerie, which is not unique only in European countries. It is

interesting that in the period 2004 - 2010 the Community Police3 also functioned, “for public order, as

a local, specialized public service”4, through the reorganization of the Public Guard Corps, and later,

in 2010, transformed into the Local Police5 operating at the level of administrative-territorial units.

The fact that the law stipulates that “the Ministry of Administration and Interior elaborates, in

consultation with the associative structures of local public administration authorities, the Framework

1 Professor, PhD, Danubius University of Galati, Romania, Address: 3 Galati Blvd., Galati 800654, Romania, Tel.:

+40372361102, Corresponding author: pisleagtutu@univ-danubius.ro.

2 Law no. 218 of April 23, 2002 (republished) regarding the organization and functioning of the Romanian Police, Official

Monitor no. 170 of March 2, 2020.

3 Law no. 371 of September 20, 2004 on th e establishment, organization and operation of the Community P olice, Official

Monitor no. 878 of September 27, 2004.

4 Law no. 371 of September 20, 2004 on th e establishment, organization and operation of the Community Police, Official

Monitor no. 878 of September 27, 2004, art. 1, para. 1.

5 Law no. 155 of July 12, 2010 o f the local police, Official Monitor no. 488 of July 15, 2010 (republished, Official Monitor

no. 339 of May 8, 2014).