Act on Vaud Police Organization (LOPV) - Purpose and Object (LOPV)

1. This Law defines the organization of the Vaud police force as well as its financing.

2. Its purpose is to

a. establish the general organization and the guiding principles for the operation of the police forces;

b. ensure permanent, high-quality public safety throughout the cantonal territory;

c. establish close collaboration between the authorities responsible for public safety;

d. improve the effectiveness of police action through better coordination among police forces;

e. eliminate competition related to the status of police officers.

3. To this end, it defines

a. the principles, concepts, and institutions governing the exercise of police activity within the canton's territory;

b. the different types of missions carried out by the police forces;

c. the coherent and coordinated distribution of missions, tasks, and competences among the police forces with a view to the common security interest of citizens;

d. the authorities that direct the police forces and the actors who perform police missions;

e. the conditions allowing police forces to exist and to be coherently integrated into the canton's police system;

f. the duties of mutual assistance and cooperation among police forces within and outside the cantonal territory;

g. the financing of police activity throughout the cantonal territory, subject to the financing of their police activity by the municipalities.

1. This law applies to police forces. It governs the performance, by police officers, of all the duties assigned to police forces.

2. It also applies to non-police tasks carried out by public security assistants within the scope of their assigned competencies.

1. The terminology used in this law applies equally to women and men.

1. The police forces comprise

a. the cantonal police;

b. the municipal and intermunicipal police forces (hereinafter: the municipal police forces).

2. The cantonal police is a state service attached to the department responsible for security (hereinafter: the department) [A].

3. A municipal police force is a municipal or intermunicipal police corps for which the municipality, the association of municipalities, the federation of municipalities, or the agglomeration holds an accreditation.

4. Within the limits of its powers, the State entrusts the monopoly on the exercise of public force to the police forces. Special laws are reserved.

1. Police forces have the duty and responsibility to fulfill the mission of the police by ensuring, on a permanent basis, close collaboration among them, as well as harmonization and coherence in their organization and actions.

2. They continuously seek to optimize the police apparatus with the aim of ensuring quality and effectiveness in the execution of their respective missions.

1. The mission of the police forces itself consists of three types of missions

a. general police duties;

b. specific State duties;

c. judicial duties.

2. The police forces carry out these duties in the service of the population and the authorities.

1. General Police Missions constitute the set of tasks and competencies common to all police forces and all police officers in the canton.

2. The general missions notably include the following

a. ensuring the protection of persons and property;

b. ensuring respect for democratic institutions, particularly by ensuring the execution and observance of communal laws and regulations;

c. preventing and suppressing infringements of public safety and order, as well as the environment, subject to the contraventions provided for in Article 3, paragraph 2 of the Law on Communal Fixed Penalty Fines [B], which may also be imposed by employees of communal services;

d. taking necessary emergency measures and providing assistance in cases of serious dangers, accidents, or disasters;

e. ensuring the surveillance and regulation of road traffic, subject to the specific missions of the State and missions that may be entrusted to public safety assistants;

f. drawing up police reports ( *constats de police* ) and registering criminal complaints, provided that the related event does not require any immediate formal investigative measures;

g. ensuring, when the recourse to public force is necessary, the execution of administrative and judicial decisions;

h. performing tasks in the field of state protection;

i. conducting prevention actions to prevent, as far as possible, the commission of any punishable act.

3. The accomplishment of general police missions is ensured, subject to Article 12

a. by communal police forces within the limits of the territories concerned;

b. by the cantonal police.

1. The specific missions of the State are missions which the law assigns to the cantonal police for execution or which are not delegated to the municipal police forces.

2. The specific missions of the State are carried out exclusively by the cantonal police, subject to the obligation of intracantonal cooperation.

1. In matters of criminal prosecution, the judicial duties of the police are governed by the Swiss Code of Criminal Procedure [C], the introductory law of the Swiss Code of Criminal Procedure [D], and the Law on Judicial Police [E].

2. The judicial duties notably include investigating offenses, gathering evidence, and delivering to the magistrate individuals presumed to have participated in any manner in the commission of offenses.

3. The Law on Judicial Police stipulates to what extent municipal police forces are competent to perform judicial duties.

**1. The tasks stipulated by law, whose execution is complementary to the general police duties but do not require police training or resources, are not part of the police missions.**

**2. These tasks are typically entrusted to public security assistants.**

**3. The State and the municipalities, whether or not they have a police force, are responsible for the performance of these tasks within the scope of their respective powers and in accordance with the rules relating to the competencies, organization, resources, and training of public security assistants.**

1. The police, under the aegis of the cantonal police, cooperate with the authorities of other cantons, the Confederation, and foreign countries within the framework of intercantonal agreements, international treaties, or federal law.

2. The Council of State is competent to conclude intercantonal agreements with the Confederation and with other cantons concerning police cooperation, based on the advice of the Cantonal Security Council.

3. The Council of State is competent to request from the Confederation or other cantons the intervention of police forces from outside the canton on cantonal territory within the framework of the current intercantonal agreements.

4. The Council of State is competent to authorize the engagement of the cantonal police or a municipal police force outside the cantonal territory within the framework of the current intercantonal agreements.

1. Whenever circumstances require, particularly in the context of events of regional or cantonal importance or in case of emergency, the police services owe each other mutual assistance and support.

2. The cantonal police or a municipal police force may request assistance from a municipal police force outside the territory covered by accreditation in the cases defined in the previous paragraph. Except in cases of emergency, this request is subject to the authorization of the cantonal police commander.

3. Mutual assistance and support between police services are exercised on an ad hoc basis as long as each police service independently ensures the fulfillment of general police missions in its territory.

4. When the cantonal police intervenes in support of another police force, it generally assumes command of the operations.

1. Additional services may be subject to an agreement concluded between a municipality, an association of municipalities, a federation of municipalities, or an agglomeration and the State, which aims to strengthen the missions carried out by the cantonal police on municipal territory.

2. In principle, only a municipality, an association of municipalities, a federation of municipalities, or an agglomeration without a police force can request additional services.

3. Exceptionally, a municipality, an association of municipalities, a federation of municipalities, or an agglomeration with a municipal police force may request additional services.

1. The Council of State is responsible for police coordination within the cantonal territory. It determines the modalities thereof.

2. In this capacity, it notably holds the following prerogatives

a. to validate the strategy and overall security orientations presented to it by the Cantonal Security Council in a coordinated police action plan;

b. to rule on requests for the delegation of judicial powers submitted to it by municipal police forces;

c. to rule on appeals relating to accreditation granting and withdrawal procedures;

d. to conclude agreements concerning additional services requested by the communes, taking into account the resources available to the cantonal police for the accomplishment of its missions and, where applicable, setting a price lower than the full cost.

1. The Department shall rule, upon prior notice from the Cantonal Security Council

a. on accreditation applications submitted by municipalities and executive, federation, or agglomeration committees;

b. on derogations related to the extent of the territorial jurisdiction of communal police forces;

c. on accreditation withdrawals.

1. The communal authorities ensure public order as well as the safety of persons and property within the limits of the powers attributed to them by the Constitution [F] and the law.

2. For the accomplishment of tasks included in the general police missions, they must either

a. establish a communal police force;

b. join an association of communes, a federation of communes or an agglomeration that has a communal police force;

c. entrust the execution of these tasks to the cantonal police.

1. The Cantonal Security Council is composed of

a. the Head of Department;

b. three municipal councillors responsible for police matters, namely the one from Lausanne, the one from a municipality with a communal police force, and the one from a municipality without a communal police force.

2. In principle, the Commander of the Cantonal Police participates in the meetings of the Cantonal Security Council, with an advisory vote.

1. The Cantonal Security Council is the political management and coordination body.

2. In this capacity, it notably holds the following prerogatives

a. monitoring the implementation of the coordinated action plan by the Operational Directorate;

b. proposing, where appropriate, to the department derogations concerning the territorial scope of communal police jurisdiction, within the framework of their accreditation.

3. It also holds the following prerogatives, for the exercise of which it relies on the opinion, respectively on the proposals, of the Operational Directorate

a. preparing for the attention of the Council of State, in the first quarter of each year for the following year, a coordinated police action plan in which it proposes the overall strategy and orientations concerning security;

b. issuing recommendations to the Council of State and municipal authorities for the exercise of their respective powers;

c. generally analyzing problems related to security;

d. preparing opinions for the department concerning requests for provisional or definitive accreditations submitted to it;

e. setting out in a directive the accreditation conditions, as well as the details of the procedures for its granting and withdrawal;

f. directing the police quality management system and setting the minimum quality requirements that each police force must meet within the framework of each accreditation condition;

g. monitoring compliance by police forces with qualitative and quantitative accreditation conditions;

h. issuing recommendations regarding the allocation of additional resources in situations and areas where it deems it necessary.

1. The Cantonal Security Council is chaired by the head of the department.

2. It makes its decisions by consensus. In the event of disagreement, its chairperson has the casting vote.

3. In exercising its prerogatives, it may delegate the execution of certain tasks to working groups attached to it, notably in the fields of prevention, ethics, quality management of police forces, and relations with municipalities without a police force.

4. The Council of State establishes the remaining organizational rules.

1. The Operational Directorate is composed of

a. the Commander of the Cantonal Police;

b. the Commander of the Lausanne Police;

c. a Commander of a municipal police force.

2. In principle, the Commander of the Gendarmerie and the Head of the Criminal Investigation Department participate in the meetings of the Operational Directorate, in an advisory capacity.

1. The Operational Directorate is the body responsible for the coordination and operational management of police forces. It is subordinate to the Cantonal Security Council.

2. In this capacity, it notably holds the following prerogatives

a. to coordinate the activity and resources of police forces from an operational perspective, without prejudice to the command prerogatives of the Chief of the Cantonal Police;

b. to support the Chief of the Cantonal Police in the operational deployment of resources at the regional level, particularly during events of regional or cantonal scope or specific incidents;

c. to plan, coordinate, and manage deployments with extra-cantonal or foreign police bodies or concordats;

d. to establish the rules relating to the recruitment, deployment, and training processes for police personnel and public security assistants;

e. to define the standards for equipment, communication, and information systems to ensure the interoperability of police forces;

f. to define the rules relating to the exercise of the police profession, as well as the resulting processes, and to integrate them into the quality management system of police forces;

g. to ensure consistency, through unity of doctrine, in the training and employment of public force, as well as in the taking of coercive measures;

h. to regulate and manage the coordinated police information exchange system;

i. to define regional and cantonal security objectives, which take precedence over local communal objectives, while respecting the framework conferred by the coordinated action plan developed by the Cantonal Security Council;

j. to control, upon delegation from the Cantonal Security Council, the compliance of police forces with qualitative and quantitative conditions for accreditation, and, if necessary, to propose corrective measures or withdrawal of accreditation to the Cantonal Security Council;

k. to provide preliminary opinions to the competent authorities regarding the authorization or prohibition of events that it defines as being of regional or cantonal importance.

3. It exercises these prerogatives by issuing directives intended for all police forces and monitors their application by them.

4. Generally, it supports the Chief of the Cantonal Police and the Cantonal Security Council in the execution of their respective tasks. In particular, it provides the Cantonal Security Council with the elements enabling it

a. to establish the strategy and overall orientations in matters of security and prevention and, generally, to regulate questions related to security;

b. to provide preliminary opinions on accreditation requests submitted to it;

c. to direct the quality management system of police forces;

d. to fix the minimum police strength of each communal police force based on the security needs assessment system;

e. to define the material, equipment, and communication and information systems that each communal police force must acquire.

1. The Operational Directorate is headed by the commander of the cantonal police. The commander ensures the unified command of the police forces that carry out their tasks under his authority.

2. Decisions are made by consensus. In case of disagreement, the head decides.

3. In the exercise of its competences, it may delegate the execution of certain tasks to working groups that are attached to it.

1. The cantonal police commander holds the position of head of service and leads the cantonal police force. He is responsible for the proper execution of all general police duties by the cantonal police, as well as for compliance with and application of directives issued by the Operational Directorate.

2. His prerogatives include, but are not limited to, the following

a. leading, throughout the cantonal territory and regardless of the intervention sector, police forces engaged in events defined as being of regional and cantonal importance by the Cantonal Security Council, upon prior advice from the Operational Directorate;

b. proposing to the Operational Directorate rules relating to the exercise of the police profession, as well as the resulting processes;

c. taking the necessary measures to ensure that police forces comply with the regional and cantonal security objectives defined by the Operational Directorate in accordance with the coordinated action plan of the Cantonal Security Council;

d. reporting to the Cantonal Security Council on actions undertaken, particularly on public security and order maintenance deployments.

3. The cantonal police commander is responsible for the activity of police forces within the framework of judicial missions.

4. In this capacity, his prerogatives include, but are not limited to, the following

a. issuing, in agreement with the Attorney General, directives concerning judicial activity;

b. establishing intervention rules and ensuring compliance therewith;

c. monitoring the uniformity of the handling and processing of judicial matters by police forces.

5. In case of urgency or crisis, the cantonal police commander may order measures or deployments for all or part of the police forces, without having previously consulted the Operational Directorate. In such a situation, he must report thereon to the Cantonal Security Council and involve the Operational Directorate as soon as circumstances permit.

1. The commanders of the municipal police forces are appointed by the municipal hiring authorities.

2. Upon the proposal of the Cantonal Security Council, the Council of State adopts the general rules regarding the recruitment and hiring conditions of municipal police commanders.

3. Each municipal police commander leads the municipal or inter-municipal police service and manages a municipal police force. He is responsible for the proper execution of all general police missions by his force, as well as for the observance and application of directives issued by the Operational Directorate.

1. The police forces consist of officers with a federal certificate or equivalent training, specialized civilian employees, and management personnel who have been selected from outside the corps and have been sworn in.

2. Subject to special laws, these individuals are the only ones authorized to exercise police prerogatives, to carry out general police duties, and, for this purpose, to use public force if necessary.

3. Police officers must be Swiss nationals at the latest by the time of their swearing-in.

4. The appointing authority conducts the swearing-in of its police officers. The procedures related to the conduct of the swearing-in involve cantonal and municipal authorities or their representatives.

5. All police officers in the canton benefit from a unified status.

1. Public Safety Assistants are non-police employees, hired by the State, or by a municipality or several municipalities, whether or not they have a police force, which will share the workload and funding. Public Safety Assistants employed by the State cannot be subject to an agreement regarding their provision to one or several municipalities.

2. Public Safety Assistants are unarmed, subject to the execution of specific missions defined by the Council of State.

3. Public Safety Assistants perform their service in uniform. This uniform and their equipment must be clearly distinguishable from those of police officers.

4. The missions assigned to Public Safety Assistants are those whose execution complements the general police missions, but which do not require the training and prerogatives of a police officer, nor police resources, nor the use of public force.

5. They are authorized to apply the process of summary fines to the extent provided by Vaud's traffic law [G].

6. The Council of State adopts the rules related to the competencies, organization, and resources of Public Safety Assistants.

1. The cantonal police shall, within the limits of its powers, on behalf and for the account of the State, fulfil the mission of the police, within the meaning of Article 6.

2. In this capacity, it shall notably have the following prerogatives

a. possess all the necessary powers to perform all tasks included in the mission of the police throughout the cantonal territory;

b. intervene in communes without a communal police force to perform tasks included in the mission of the police, i.e., those that cannot be carried out by a public security assistant;

c. intervene subsidiarily in communes with a communal police force, particularly when the prerogatives of the latter do not authorise it to ensure the follow-up of a police event;

d. intervene in all cases of intra-cantonal police collaboration within the meaning of Article 12.

1. Municipalities without a municipal police force entrust the cantonal police with the performance of tasks included in the general police missions.

2. The municipal official in charge of police matters acts as the liaison with the cantonal police. The cantonal police appoint an internal contact person.

3. Municipalities without a municipal police force generally entrust public security assistants with carrying out additional tasks that complement the general police missions as defined in Article 10.

4. These municipalities may request additional services as defined in Article 13.

1. Only a municipality, an association of municipalities, a federation of municipalities, or an agglomeration, to the exclusion of any other legal form of intermunicipal collaboration, may establish a municipal police force.

1. Municipal police forces, within the limits of their jurisdiction, possess all the necessary prerogatives to fulfill the general policing duties within the territory defined by their accreditation.

2. They ensure the autonomous execution of general policing duties under the direction of municipal or inter-municipal authorities.

3. To carry out tasks that fall under municipal autonomy, municipal or inter-municipal authorities may assign all useful duties to their police forces, respecting the global security strategy and guidelines established by the Cantonal Security Council.

4. They request support from other police forces only in cases of mutual aid and reciprocal assistance as per Article 12, paragraph 3.

5. Exceptionally, they may request additional services as per Article 13.

1. Accreditation is an authorization granted exclusively to a municipality, an association of municipalities, a federation of municipalities, or an agglomeration, allowing it to establish a municipal police force within its territory.

2. Municipalities and boards of directors, federations, or agglomerations may file a request for accreditation at any time. However, a request for permanent accreditation can only be submitted after obtaining provisional accreditation.

3. The State supports the municipalities and the boards of directors, federations, or agglomerations in the formation and dissolution of police forces.

1. The scope of the accreditation is limited, for its beneficiary, to the right to entrust the execution of general police missions to its municipal police. The delegation of judicial competencies is not subject to accreditation.

2. A municipal police force exists and is authorized to carry out its policing activities only if it holds a provisional or definitive accreditation.

1. Accreditation generally extends to the entire territory of the municipality or inter-municipality.

2. As an exception and for overriding security reasons, exemptions regarding the territorial jurisdiction of the police forces may be authorized by the department, upon proposal from the Cantonal Security Council. If applicable, the accreditation shall mention the exemption, its exact scope, and the overriding security reasons justifying it.

1. For the accreditation request to be accepted, the municipal police must meet, on a continuous and permanent basis, the following accreditation conditions

a. be the sole police force to carry out general police missions within its intervention sector, with the exception of the cantonal police;

b. have an intervention sector that is clearly geographically delimited and operationally coherent;

c. be capable of intervening 7 days a week and 24 hours a day at all points within its intervention sector;

d. independently carry out all missions incumbent upon it and ensure that its public security assistants carry out those missions that can be delegated to them;

e. be capable of intervening to assist another police force in cases of mutual aid and reciprocal support;

f. have the minimum police staffing level set by the Cantonal Security Council;

g. meet the minimum requirements set by the Cantonal Security Council based on the police quality management system, particularly concerning their internal structure, their governing bodies, and their mode of operation;

h. possess the material, equipment, and communication and information systems enabling the interoperability of police forces, as defined by the Operational Directorate;

i. comply with and ensure that all its personnel comply with the directives of the Operational Directorate;

j. comply with and ensure that its personnel comply with the police code of ethics;

k. integrate into the financial mechanism provided for by this law.

2. Compliance with the accreditation conditions is monitored by the Cantonal Security Council in accordance with the provisions of Article 43.

1. Provisional accreditation allows the municipal police to be legitimized to exercise its police activity for a specified period.

2. The municipality, association of municipalities, federation of municipalities, or agglomeration (hereinafter: the applicant) wishing to have a municipal police force submits a request for provisional accreditation to the Cantonal Security Council, accompanied by a complete and detailed dossier of the proposed municipal police. The applicant proposes the duration of the provisional accreditation's validity.

3. The Cantonal Security Council initiates a provisional accreditation procedure. It reviews the request and particularly analyzes whether the internal structure, the leadership bodies, and the operational mode planned for the municipal police will allow it to integrate into the Vaud police system and eventually meet the conditions for accreditation.

4. For this purpose, it sends a copy of the provisional accreditation request to the Operational Directorate, which is responsible for issuing a preliminary opinion.

5. The Cantonal Security Council forwards the provisional accreditation request to the department along with its own preliminary opinion and that of the Operational Directorate.

1. The Department shall rule on the application for provisional accreditation. It may

a. grant the application for provisional accreditation, specifying the duration of its validity, when it is established that the communal police force is capable of integrating into the Vaud police system and of eventually fulfilling the accreditation conditions, or

b. if appropriate, grant the applicant a period of time to take the corrective measures necessary to obtain provisional accreditation, or

c. reject the application for provisional accreditation when

- the applicant has not provided the information or documents required by the Cantonal Security Council within the deadlines granted by the latter, or

- the applicant has not taken all corrective measures by the end of the period granted to it, or

- it is established that the applicant's communal police force will not be able to integrate into the Vaud police system or eventually fulfill the accreditation conditions, and that corrective measures are not appropriate.

2. The Department's decision may be appealed to the Council of State.

1. Permanent accreditation allows the municipal police to be authorized to carry out its police activities.

2. At the latest by the expiration of the provisional accreditation, the holder of such accreditation may submit a request for permanent accreditation to the Cantonal Security Council. The submission of this request extends the validity of the provisional accreditation until a decision is made on the request for permanent accreditation.

3. The Cantonal Security Council initiates a procedure for permanent accreditation. It reviews the request and specifically analyzes whether the municipal police meet the accreditation conditions.

4. For this purpose, it forwards a copy of the provisional accreditation request to the Operational Directorate, which is responsible for issuing a preliminary opinion.

5. The Cantonal Security Council forwards the file to the department with its own preliminary opinion and that of the Operational Directorate.

1. The Department rules on the application for definitive accreditation. It may

a. grant the application for definitive accreditation when it is established that the applicant meets the accreditation conditions, or

b. if appropriate, grant the applicant a period to take the necessary corrective measures to comply with the accreditation conditions and, if necessary, extend the validity period of the provisional accreditation, or

c. reject the application for definitive accreditation when

- the applicant has not submitted the information or documents required by the Cantonal Security Council within the deadlines granted by it, or

- the applicant has not taken all necessary corrective measures by the end of the period granted to it, or

- it is established that the applicant's communal police force does not meet the accreditation conditions and that corrective measures are not opportune.

2. The Department's decision may be appealed to the Council of State.

1. The Operational Directorate reports serious and recurring shortcomings or dysfunctions it observes within the internal structure, governing bodies, or operating methods of a municipal police force that result in non-compliance with accreditation conditions. It informs the Cantonal Security Council or, where applicable, the Quality Management Working Group.

2. The Cantonal Security Council initiates a procedure for the withdrawal of accreditation and investigates the case. It particularly analyzes if and to what extent the municipal police force no longer meets the accreditation conditions. In all cases, it tasks the Operational Directorate with providing an opinion regarding corrective measures or the withdrawal of accreditation.

3. The Cantonal Security Council forwards the file to the department along with its own findings and those of the Operational Directorate.

1. The department shall rule on the accreditation withdrawal procedure. It may

a. close the procedure when it is established that the municipal police meet the accreditation conditions, or

b. grant, if appropriate, a deadline to the municipal police to take the necessary corrective measures to ensure lasting and permanent compliance with the accreditation conditions, or

c. withdraw the accreditation of the municipal police when

- the municipality or the management committee, federation, or conurbation has not communicated the information or documents required by the Cantonal Security Council within the deadlines granted by it, or

- the municipal police have not taken all the necessary corrective measures at the end of the deadline granted to them, or

- it is established that the municipal police no longer meet the accreditation conditions and that corrective measures are not appropriate.

2. Accreditation may not be suspended or withdrawn for only a part of a municipal police's activity.

3. The department's decision may be appealed to the Council of State.

1. In the context of the provisional or definitive accreditation procedure and the withdrawal of accreditation, the department and the Cantonal Security Council

a. have full investigative powers in fact and in law. They may, at any time, if they deem it useful to complete the applicants' files, request the production of additional documents, order the hearing of third parties, appoint and hear experts, carry out inspections within communal police forces, or perform any other investigative act;

b. may, if they deem it necessary or if they intend to refuse the accreditation request or withdraw the accreditation, proceed to hear the applicant municipality or the executive committee, federation, or agglomeration;

c. may, if they deem it necessary or if they intend to deviate from its preliminary opinion, proceed to hear the Operational Directorate.

2. By submitting its request for provisional or definitive accreditation, the applicant grants the right to all authorities competent in accreditation matters to request any relevant information or to demand the production of any document related to the request.

3. The department shall invoice the applicant for the costs of the accreditation granting or withdrawal procedure in accordance with the tariff set by the State Council, but which shall not exceed CHF 30,000.-.

1. A municipality, an association of municipalities, a federation of municipalities, or an agglomeration may waive the accreditation of its municipal police.

2. The municipal council or the board of directors, federation, or agglomeration then sends a written waiver declaration to the Cantonal Security Council, which informs the department and the Operational Directorate without delay.

3. The waiver declaration must be sent to the Cantonal Security Council with a notice period of twenty-four months for the end of a semester.

1. The Cantonal Security Council shall implement and direct the police quality management system, in collaboration with the Operational Directorate, in order to

a. prevent, identify, and correct shortcomings or dysfunctions in the internal structure, governing bodies, and operational methods of the police forces;

b. ensure compliance with accreditation conditions by municipal police forces;

c. coordinate the police quality management system with the system for granting and withdrawing accreditations.

2. The police quality management system shall notably consist of an external oversight body, common to all police forces, and an internal oversight body, within each police force.

3. The Cantonal Security Council shall, in a directive on police quality management, define

a. the minimum quality requirements that police forces must meet for each of the accreditation conditions;

b. the principles governing the organization and operation of the quality management system;

c. the principles governing the organization and operation of the external and internal oversight bodies;

d. the distribution of powers and responsibilities between these bodies;

e. the procedures for referral to these bodies by police authorities and stakeholders;

f. the consequences in case of non-compliance with the minimum quality requirements by police forces and the accreditation conditions by municipal police forces, as well as their link with the accreditation withdrawal procedure.

1. A municipality that wishes to establish its own police force or join an inter-municipal police force must notify the Cantonal Council of Security at least one year in advance.

2. A municipality that wishes to leave the inter-municipal police force of which it is a part, or dissolve its municipal police force and assign the performance of general police duties within its territory to the Cantonal Police, must notify the Cantonal Council of Security at least one year in advance. Longer notice periods provided by the statutes of inter-municipal associations are reserved.

1. The municipalities finance the general police duties as described in Article 7 of this law, either by directly funding their municipal police or by paying the State an amount for the services of the cantonal police.

2. The State finances all other police duties insofar as they are not delegated to a municipal police.

1. The amount invoiced by the State to the communes for the exercise of general police duties by the cantonal police is CHF 74,269,768.-. It is indexed annually by 1.5 %.

2. This amount is distributed among the communes as follows

a. 65% is borne by communes without a communal police force;

b. 35% is borne by all communes and distributed among them in francs per inhabitant.

3. The amount borne by communes without a communal police force is distributed as follows

a. half in francs per inhabitant;

b. half according to the population weighted by the following coefficients

From/inhabitant 0 1,001 3,001 5,001 12,001 15,001 30,001 45,001

Up to/inhabitant 1,000 3,000 5,000 12,000 15,000 30,000 45,000 and above

Coefficient 2 3 3.5 4 5 6 7 8

4. If a commune with its own police force decides to delegate general police duties to the cantonal police, the State shall invoice it an ad hoc amount, in addition to that set out in paragraph 1. This amount shall be calculated according to the principles set out in paragraph 3, applicable by analogy. The commune in question shall not participate in the distribution provided for in paragraph 3.

5. If a commune decides to establish its own police force or to integrate into an existing inter-communal police force, it shall continue to be taken into account in the distribution provided for in paragraph 3, but the amount resulting from this distribution shall not be invoiced to it by the State.

1. Complementary services within the meaning of Article 13 of this law are billed at the full annual cost of the police officers assigned to these tasks.

2. When it concludes an agreement regarding complementary services, the Council of State may set a price lower than the full cost.

3. The difference between the annual income from previous service contracts and the annual income from agreements concerning complementary services is financed by the State.

1. The fees collected for police intervention expenses are retained by the public corporation to which the officer belongs.

2. The proceeds from on-the-spot fines or those paid within the reflection period provided by the Federal Law on Administrative Fines [H] are retained by the public corporation to which the officer who identified the infraction belongs.

3. In the event of a denunciation, the proceeds from the fines are retained by the public corporation to which the competent authority responsible for enforcement belongs.

1. Communes, associations of communes, federations of communes, or conurbations that announced their intention to establish a communal police force before March 31, 2010, shall benefit from provisional accreditation as of the date of entry into force of the present law.

2. Within a period of six months, they shall enter into a contract with the department for definitive accreditation. Failing this, the provisional accreditation shall lapse.

3. The contract for definitive accreditation shall be concluded for a determined duration and shall define any necessary adaptation measures, as well as their timeline, that the communal police force must undertake in order to fulfill all accreditation conditions.

4. The content of the contract shall be elaborated by mutual agreement between the commune, the association of communes, the federation of communes, or the conurbation and the Operational Directorate. The Cantonal Security Council shall transmit the contract, with its opinion, to the department.

5. The department shall

a. validate the contract and address it to the contracting commune, association of communes, federation of communes, or conurbation, or

b. return the contract to the Operational Directorate for amendments it deems necessary.

1. The Operational Directorate monitors the accredited beneficiary's compliance with the commitments made in the provisional accreditation contract for definitive accreditation and their implementation within the internal structure, governance bodies, and operational mode of its communal police force. It reports to the Cantonal Security Council.

2. If the provisional accreditation beneficiary fails to comply with the contract for definitive accreditation, the department may, following a preliminary opinion from the Cantonal Security Council

a. grant, if appropriate, a period to the communal police force to take the necessary corrective measures to comply with the contract and, if necessary, renew the contract for a new fixed term;

b. terminate the contract, following a preliminary opinion from the Cantonal Security Council.

3. The termination of the contract results in the withdrawal of the provisional accreditation of the communal police force. This decision may be appealed to the Council of State.

4. At the latest upon the expiration of the contract for definitive accreditation, the provisional accreditation beneficiary may submit an application for definitive accreditation to the Cantonal Security Council. The submission of this application extends the validity of the provisional accreditation until a decision is made on the application for definitive accreditation.

5. The Cantonal Security Council initiates a definitive accreditation procedure, and the department decides at the conclusion of the procedure.

1. Municipal police forces that do not have provisional accreditation as of the effective date of this law are dissolved.

1. Municipalities shall adapt their regulations to this law within a period of twelve months from its entry into force.

1. The State Council shall submit to the Grand Council, within three years from the entry into force of the present law, the necessary legal provisions for the implementation of the unified status of police officers.

1. The Council of State is entrusted with the execution of the present law. It shall publish the text in accordance with article 84, paragraph 1, letter a) of the Cantonal Constitution and shall determine, by decree, the date of its entry into force.