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The Public Security Police Force[2] (Chinese:治安警察局;[3]Portuguese: Corpo de Polícia de Segurança Pública de Macau,[3]abbreviatedCPSP) is the non-criminal police department of Macau and a branch of the Macau Security Force.[4] Originally known at first as the Macau Police (Portuguese: Polícia de Macau), the force went through several name changes before taking on its current name. The PSP celebrates its foundation on 14 March 1691.[5]
Due to the one country, two systems perspective, it is organisationally separate from the mainland authorities. CPSPM is organisationally independent from the jurisdiction of the mainland's Public Security Ministry.
The force is currently headed by Ng Kam Wa since 20 December 2019.[6][7]
Law enforcement was first taken by the military stationed in Portuguese Macau, with Portuguese Navy troops at first before the Portuguese Army stepped in to take over internal security duties on 14 March 1691.[5] A small garrison was raised to conduct police work at first, but had the majority of its duties taken over by Portuguese India-based soldiers in 1784. On 13 May 1810, the Prince Regent Battalion was created to be the colony's police force, consisting of four companies of 400 men. Two companies were based at the Customs House while the other two was based at Fortaleza do Monte (Mount Fortress).
On 3 March 1841, a royal decree had approved the creation of a permanent police force, which was staffed by Macanese citizens who were not part of the battalion.[5] A group of night watchmen called the Guard's Bazar was created by Bernardino de Senna Fernandes with some assistance from local Macanese Chinese to patrol residential areas at night, which was recognized as a legal law enforcement body by the Portuguese Macau government. With an initial count of 50 men, it was soon raised with 100 men. In 1861, the governor passed an ordinance that renamed the force from Macau Police to the Macau Police Force (Abbreviation: CPM; Portuguese: Corpo de Polícia de Macau).[5] In 1862, the CPM was given the power to patrol the colony's waters through Ordinance No. 56, 18 November 1862, under 1868 when the role was assigned to the Macau Port Police (Abbreviation: PPM; Portuguese: Polícia do Porto de Macau).[5] Moors were recruited into the ranks in 1873 with a Moor section established on 9 August 1874.
Governor Eugenio Carlos Correa da Silva dissolved the CPM on 18 January 1879, replacing it with the Macau Police Guard (Abbreviation: GPM; Portuguese: Guarda de Polícia de Macau).[5] They were based at the Barracks San Francisco as part of the GPM's establishment. In 1912, Provincial Ordinance no. 106, 10 June 1912, had called for the GPM to be led by a county administrator, being assisted by both staff and police officers alike. Daniel Ferreira, the county administrator in 1914, created the police force's civil branch with a strength of 300 officers. A security police branch was established in 1916, with a strength of 304 officers paid with a salary of 7,810 MOP.[5]
The post of Police Commissioner of Public Security in Macau was made separate from the colony administrator under Executive Order 533 in 1937, with the creation of the PSP (modelled after the Portuguese Homeland PSP) at first under the command of a captain or a lieutenant in the Portuguese Army.[5] The PSP's police band was created in 1951 under Luis Augusto de Matos Paletti to serve as the force's ceremonial unit in official events.[8] A social recovery center was created in 1961 to help take care of troubled people such as orphans, homeless or foreign nationals living in Macau without any permanent residence. By May 1968, the PSP served as a military organization under the Portuguese colonial government. Female officers were first recruited by the PSP on 7 October 1974, when 42 candidates were accepted into service. Decree-Law No. 705/75 of 27 December 1975, placed the PSP under the Security Forces of Macau alongside the Marine Police, Fiscal Police and the Fire Department.[5]
Further restructuring of the PSP took place in 1981 when Decree No. 37/81/M was passed to amend the earlier Decree No. 22/77/M. It established the PSP's divisions consisting of Command, Division of Police Macau Police Division of the Isles, Police Tactical Intervention Unit, Division of Transit Services, Migration and Identity, Music Band, Center for Recovery and Social Welfare.[5] The PSP's Police School was created on 18 July 1982, with Portuguese officers serving as the institution's first instructors. Another round of restructuring took place on 8 February 1986, with the passing of Decree-Law No. 13/86/M, which created additional PSP divisions, consisting of Command, General Staff and Command organs, Divisions of Police and General Support, Organs Support Services and Education.[5]
In 1995, the PSP went through a third phrase of restructuring through the passing of Decree-Law No. 3/95/M, defining its overall structure consisting of Command and Control Bodies, Department of Resource Management, Department Information, Operations Department, Migration Service, Transit Department, Macau Police Department, Islands Police Departments, Police Tactical Intervention Unit, Training Command, Police Academy and the Music Band.[5] Portuguese-born PSP officers began leaving their posts also at the same year, being replaced by Macanese-born PSP officers.
In 1999, Lieutenant Colonel Manuel António Meireles de Carvalho passed on command of the PSP to its new commander, Superintendent General Jose Proença Branco. With the transfer of sovereignty on 20 December of that year, the PSP changed its emblem, replacing the former Portuguese coat of arms with that of the Emblem of Macau. Contemporary media reports recorded that PSP personnel substituted their new cap badges for the former Portuguese insignia precisely at the moment of handover.
The PSP's Police School moved its location from its old headquarters at the Center for Social Recovery and began work on the Academy of Security Forces at Coloane after the People's Liberation Army Macau Garrison was created in Macau in May 2000.
Superintendent General Jose Proenca Branco was replaced by Superintendent Law Siu Peng after former Macau Chief Executive Edmund Ho Hau Wah on 17 September 2001, passed Decree No. 66/2001.
In 2017, the PSPFM established the Tourism Police unit.[9]
On 8 April 2019, the force announced that Vong Vai Hong, the Assistant Commissioner was appointed as the Deputy Commissioner.[10] On 9 October 2019, Assistant Commissioner Leong Heng Hong was made the Deputy Commissioner.[11]
The PSPFM's credibility suffered in the 2007 Macau labour protest when a bystander was injured from a bullet fired by PSPM officers as warning shots to break up protests.[12]
The PSPFM announced that several of its officers, including a retired officer, were arrested during an anti-extortion operation.[13]
All marked vehicles employed by the PSP have an all blue finish with the seal of the force. Previously, all of them had a white finish.
Some of the vehicles used or are currently in use:
Uniform officers wear a utility belt which holds a sidearm, extra ammunition, a handcuff, an extendable baton, a pepper spray, a Motorola radio with a connected remote speaker microphone attached to the shoulder and a body-mounted camera.
The following are used by the PSPF:
The PSPFM is currently organized according to the following structure as of 2021:[14]
The PSP is commanded by a superintendent-general, who is assisted by two superintendents.[14]
Other positions or offices in the PSP organization includes:
Individual departments are often headed by a commissioner.
The rank insignia of the CPSP follows the generic model of the Portuguese Public Security Police. Insignia is placed in dark blue epaulets for all ranks, except those of superintendent and superintendent general which use instead red epaulets.
The insignia for basic ranks consist in silver chevrons: two for constable, three for constable first class and four for principal constable. The insignia for sub-chief consists in a silver stripe. The insignia for chiefs and commissioners consist of a laurel branch and a number of PSP stars (six points silver stars with the "SP" monogram in the center): one for chief, two for sub-commissioner and three (in inverted triangle) for commissioner. The insignia for intendents and superintendents consist of two crossed batons surrounded by laurel wreaths and a number of PSP stars: two for sub-intendent, three (in inverted triangle) for intendent and superintendent and four for superintendent general.