Royal Bhutan Police

Royal Bhutan Police རྒྱལ་གཞུང་འབྲུག་གི་འགག་སྡེ
Patch of the Royal Bhutan Police
Motto	Truth, Service & Security
Agency overview
Formed	1951 A.D. (2007 B.S.)
Legal personality	Governmental: Government agency
Jurisdictional structure
Legal jurisdiction	Bhutan
Primary governing body	Royal Government of Bhutan
Secondary governing body	Ministry of Home and Cultural Affairs (Bhutan)
Constituting instrument	Royal Bhutan Police Act, 2009
General nature	Law enforcement Local civilian police
Operational structure
Headquarters	Thimpu, Bhutan
Agency executive	Brigadier Kipchu Namgyel, Chief of Police
Website
www.rbp.gov.bt

Coordinates: 27°27′54.7″N 89°38′25.6″E / 27.465194°N 89.640444°E / 27.465194; 89.640444

The Royal Bhutan Police (Dzongkha: རྒྱལ་གཞུང་འབྲུག་གི་འགག་སྡེ་; gyal-kashung druk-ki kak-de) is responsible for maintaining law and order and prevention of crime in Bhutan. It was formed on 1 September 1965 with 555 personnel reassigned from the Royal Bhutan Army. It was then called the "Bhutan Frontier Guards." Its independent statutory basis was first codified with the Royal Bhutan Police Act of 1980. This framework was repealed and replaced in its entirety by the Royal Bhutan Police Act of 2009.

In addition to law enforcement, the mandate of the Royal Bhutan Police has grown since Act of 2009 to include managing prisons, facilitating youth development and rehabilitation, and disaster management.

The Act of 2009 provides the Royal Bhutan Police a substantive and procedural framework for jurisdictions, powers arrest (with and without warrant), investigation, prosecution, search and seizure, summoning witnesses, and regulating public assembly and public nuisance. It also codifies a framework for receiving complaints from the public.

The police are authorized to use force to "quell a disturbance of the peace, or to disperse an unlawful assembly, which either refused to disperse or shows a determination not to disperse," however the use of force must be limited as "as much as possible" using "the least deadly weapon which the circumstances permit." Non-lethal measures required before lethal force may be used include water cannons, tear smoke, riot batons, and rubber pellets; shooting live ammunition into crowds is authorized only after firing warning shots into the air.