Rwanda National Police

Prior to and immediately after the Rwandan Patriotic Front and Army (RPF/A) liberated Rwanda on 4th July 1994, Rwanda had several Para-military and Civil defense forces entrusted to keep law and order.

These included the Gendarmerie Nationale under the Defense ministry, the Communal Police under the Ministry of Interior and the Judicial Police Inspectors under the Ministry of Justice.

In the year 2000, the Government of Rwanda thought it wise to have an organized, well coordinated and professional police force that would effectively deal with security challenges that were relatively high at the time.

This led to the merger of the three institutions in June 2000, which had the Policing and law and order functions at the time, forming the Rwanda National Police (RNP). Law No 09/2000 of June 16, 2000 determines the powers, responsibilities, organization and functioning of the institution as  amended later by the law No 46/2010 of 14th December, 2010.

The RNP as a proactive force is built on the core values of professionalism, patriotism, integrity and high level of discipline. When RNP came into being in 2000, its first priority was to consolidate safety and security, which had been lacking under the previous governments culminating into the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. To do this, so much investment was made in promoting the values of selfless service, professionalism and efficiency in overcoming crime and enabling a safe environment;

Since 2005, the Rwanda National Police (RNP) has been actively engaged in Peace Support Operations. Today, the force is deployed in Six  United Nations missions, contributing Formed Police Units (FPUs) and Individual Police Officers (IPOs).

Currently, RNP has gone far beyond the traditional methods of policing to make the people understand their role in crime prevention. To date, the Rwanda National Police (RNP) is founded on strong partnerships with the public in fighting crime. These partnerships are evident today through the promotion of core values of security and safety, spearheaded through community policing that enables police officers and civilians to share critical information that is used to overcome crime.

The force has three (3) Police Training Schools:

1. Police Training School (PTS – Gishari)
2. Counter Terrorism Training Center (CTTC-Mayange)
3. National Police College (NPC)

These significant milestones have been achieved thanks to the partnerships with the local community, public and private entities, regional and international cooperation to deal with the emerging security challenges that come with globalization and modern technology in particular.

Former Rwanda National Police Chiefs