Policefederation of Iceland

The National Policefederation of Iceland (Landssamband Logreglumanna) was established on the 1st of December 1968 and has over 700 members. The board consists of 16 members and is elected by the Congress for 2 years time. Within the board is an Executive Committee, which consists of the president of the union and two selected board members. The Executive committee is in charge of the day to day business of the organisation.

The Federation’s office is in Reykjavik at Grettisgata 89 with 2 office personnel.

The current chairman of the Policefederation is Mr. Snorri Magnússon, first elected in 2008, and currently serving his fourth two year term in office.

The Federation logo (see top) was designed by the late Mr. Guðmundur Hermannsson, former Chief Superintendent with the Reykjavík Police Force.  It depicts the acronym of the Federation “LL” where the lower part of the “L´s” represent the two shoulder stripes of the police parade uniform.  On top a glacier is depicted and on the bottom one finds the colors of the Icelandic flag, red (representing the fire / volcano of the island), white representing the glaciers and blue representing the sea and air surrounding the the island.  This is then surrounded by a “civic crown”.

Address:

Landssamband logreglumanna

Grettisgata 89

105 Reykajvik

Iceland

Tel: +354 525 8360

Fax: +354 525 8369

E-mail: ll@logreglumenn.is  

Webpage: www.logreglumenn.is

Organisation of the Icelandic Police

Iceland is an island, 103.000 square kilometrs in area. The Icelandic population is just over 317.000 of which more than 60% reside in the capital city of Reykjavik and the neighbouring communities. Iceland has no armed forces and from the very first beginning the Police have been organized on non-military lines. Accordingly the members of the Police force have civilian status.

The rules concerning the organisation and structure of the Police are set forth in the Police Act No. 90/1996. This Act defines the role of the police, the organisation and the supreme control of the Police, the duties of the police officers when they exercise their work, the appointment of police officers, the procedure of complaints concerning an alleged punishable offence of police officers committed in the course of their work and finally the education of Police officers and rules concerning the National Police College.

The Minister of Justice is the supreme head of the police in Iceland and responsible for the police. The National Commissioner of Police acts on behalf of the Ministry of Justice in Police affairs, mainly in administrative duties vis-a-vis the regional commissioners of Police which are 15 as Iceland is divided into 15 police districts. The regional commissioners of police are in charge of the day-to-day control and operation of the police and are responsible for the execution of the functions of the police within their areas.

The police in Iceland are unarmed except for a baton and an OC-canister. All police officer are trained in the use of firearms though. A special weapons and tactics team – “The Viking Team” – is operated within the National Commissioner’ office. The unit acts for all of Iceland and its territorial waters, as well as other special duties such as VIP protection.