Jordan

• Author: George Kurian
• Pages: 536-539

Page 536

Official country name: Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan

Capital: Amman

Geographic description: Middle Eastern country between Israel and Saudi Arabia with a small maritime outlet in the Gulf of Aqaba

Population: 5,759,732 (est. 2005)

LAW ENFORCEMENT

History

An outgrowth of the legendary Arab Legion, founded by Glubb Pasha, the Public Security Force (PSF) was formed by law in July 1956 when the legion was bifurcated into the army and the police. From April 1957 to November 1958 the PSF were again placed under army control, during twenty months of martial law, but it has been autonomous ever since. The army, one of the largest in the Middle East, is still the primary institution in internal security.

Structure and Organization

The official designation of Jordan's national police establishment is the Public Security Force. Centralized in times of peace under the direction and control of the Ministry of the Interior, it becomes subject to the authority of the military governor general during periods of martial law and is subordinate to the minister of defense and the army commander in the event of war.

Geographically, police are divided into three forces: Metropolitan (Amman), rural (small towns and villages), and desert contingents. Headquarters of the force in the capital provides an array of centralized technical functions. Organizationally, police are grouped on the basis of districts that correspond to the five governorates, the capital city, and its suburbs and the desert region. Each district is further divided into subdistricts and precincts. Except for the Amman metropolitan area, the district police are under the operational supervision of a director.

The PSF performs routine police functions as well as special tasks, such as locating missing persons, guarding shrines, assisting immigration and customs officials, controlling traffic, and operating the country's penal institutions. The PSF is commanded by an officer with the title of director general of public security, usually an army general who is handpicked by the monarch on the basis of ability as well as demonstrated loyalty to the Crown. No director general has ever reached that position through promotion from the ranks. The headquarters functions are divided into four commands: Administrative Police, Judicial Police, Support Police, and Provincial Police.

Page 537

A Jordanian police officer guards the damaged Grand Hyatt hotel lobby in Amman, November 10, 2005. The hotel was one of three western hotels attacked that day by suspected suicide bombers. AlQaeda claimed responsibility for the blasts, which killed 57 people, linking the attacks to the war in Iraq and calling Amman the "backyard garden" for U.S. operations. AP Images.

The Administrative Police are...