Bolivian National Police
law enforcement agency of Bolivia
The Bolivian National Police Corps (Spanish: Cuerpo de Policía Nacional) is responsible for internal security and maintaining law and order. Unlike many South American countries, the Bolivian police force always has been accountable to the national government rather than to state or local officials. The 1950 Organic Law of Police and Carabiniers officially separated the police from the military. Frequently, however, the national police call upon the military for assistance in quelling riots and civil protests.
The countrywide emergency number for the police, including the highway patrol, is 110.
Historical background
Although the Marshal of Ayacucho, Antonio José de Sucre, had organized the first Bolivian police force on June 24, 1826, the National Police (Policía Nacional) was not established officially until 1886. The Bolivian police became institutionalized on the national level in 1937 with the creation of the National Corps of Carabineers (Cuerpo Nacional de Carabineros) and its professional training school, the Police School (Escuela de Policía), later renamed the National Police Academy (Academia Nacional de Policías). The carabineers constituted a post-Chaco War merger of the military police, the Gendarmerie Corps (Cuerpo de Gendarmería), the paramilitary Security Police (Policía de Seguridad) and the Army's Carabineer Regiment (Regimiento de Carabineros).
Bolivia's police forces had always been responsible to the national government rather than to lesser political authorities. The concept of centralized police power is established by the Constitution.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Bolivian National Police” is law enforcement agency of Bolivia. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Bolivian, National and Police, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “law enforcement agency of Bolivia” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3065571. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1950, 1826, 1886 and 1937.
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This entry incorporates text from “Bolivian National Police” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.