| Romanian Gendarmerie Jandarmeria Română |
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| Coat of arms of the Romanian Gendarmerie | |
| Military colors | |
| Motto | LEX ET ORDO |
| Law and Order | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1893 |
| Legal personality | Governmental: Government agency |
| Jurisdictional structure | |
| National agency | ROU |
| General nature | |
| Operational structure | |
| Headquarters | Bucharest |
| Agency executive | Colonel Costel Gavrilă (interim), Inspector-general |
| Parent agency | Minister of Administration and Interior |
| Website | |
| (English) Romanian Gendarmerie | |
Jandarmeria Română (Romanian pronunciation: [ʒandarmeˈri.a roˈmɨnə]) is the military branch of the two Romanian police forces (the civil force being the Romanian Police).
The gendarmerie is subordinated to the Ministry of Administration and Interior[1] and does not have responsibility for policing the Romanian Armed Forces. This lies with the Military Police subordinated to the Romanian Land Forces.
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Its duties[2] include:
The General Inspectorate of the Gendarmerie is the central structure of the Romanian Gendarmerie under the command of a General Inspector (Inspector-general) appointed by the Minister of Interior.[5]
The General Inspector is assisted by 3 deputies.[6] The first deputy (prim-adjunct) is the chief of the Gendarmerie Staff and heads the Operational Planning and Management, Guard and Institutional Protection and the Public Order and Security Directorates. The other two deputies manage the Human Resources and the Military Schools Directorates, and the Logistics, IT and Communication Directorates respectively.[7]
The task of the General Inspectorate is to plan, manage, coordinate and control the territorial inspectorates, the Mobile Squads, the Special Intervention Brigade and the military schools.[5] The General Inspectorate of the Gendarmerie also acts as an interface of the organization with the other law enforcement agencies and the Interior Ministry.
The Romanian Gendarmerie is divided in 41 territorial inspectorates, corresponding to each county (judeţ), and the General Directorate of the Gendarmerie in Bucharest.[8]
Additionally, eight Gendarmerie Mobile Groups (Grupări Mobile) operate on a territorial basis,[8] with headquarters in Bacău, Braşov, Cluj Napoca, Constanţa, Craiova, Ploieşti, Târgu Mureş and Timişoara.[9]
The Special Intervention Brigade "Vlad Ţepeş" has national jurisdiction.[9] It handles special and high-risk situations, such as heavy rioting, hostage rescue and counter-terrorist operations.[10]
The officer cadets are trained for becoming commissioned officers at the Alexandru Ioan Cuza Police Academy in Bucharest.[8]
In addition, the Mihai Viteazul Military School in Bucharest offers post-graduate courses (in collaboration with the French Gendarmerie[11]) for commissioned officers, while the Grigore Alexandru Ghica Military School in Drăgăşani trains non-commissioned officers.[8]
Also known as "Baza de Aprovizionare pentru Luptă şi Gospodărire" (B.A.L.G.), "Baza de Administrare şi Deservire" or "U.M. 0260" is a technical administrative unit under the command of General Inspectorate of the Gendarmerie. Its primary duties include administration of the buildings and other facilities inside the Inspectorate courtyard, the Gendarmerie's shooting range, vehicle repair and maintenance and farms providing food for the personnel of the Gendarmerie. The farms are located north of Bucharest.
The first Gendarmerie corps was created on April 3, 1850 in Moldavia by the Prince Grigore Alexandru Ghica. After the Union of Wallachia and Moldavia in 1859 under Alexandru Ioan Cuza, the Gendarmerie was subordinated to the Ministry of War as a separate armed force.[12]
During the Romanian War of Independence of 1877-1878, it mainly served as military police, but it also took part in combat.
In 1893, the Rural Gendarmerie (Jandarmeria Rurală) was established by the Law for the Organization of the Rural Gendarmerie (Legea pentru organizarea Jandarmeriei rurale) as a military corps under the authority of the Ministry of Justice for policing the countryside and under the authority of Ministry of War for military police functions. The bill was proposed by Lascăr Catargiu's Conservative government and it was promulgated by the King on August 30, 1893.[12] The first article of the Ordinance regarding the Implementation of the Rural Gendarmerie Law mentioned that[12]
The organization of the Rural Gendarmerie, as described in the law, makes this institution a military body, subordinated to the Interior Minister, with the mission to maintain the public order and security. It is also subordinated to the Justice Minister, the Public Minister for policing duties, and to the War Minister for all the aspects regarding military discipline, command and troops' training.
The Peasants' Revolt of 1907 revealed the unpreparedness of the Gendarmerie and its inability to control and quell the rebellion. As a result, another bill (Legea Jandarmeriei) was adopted on March 24, 1908. The new law re-organized the institution, making it a component of the Army with provost duties and transferring commissioned officers from the Army to the Gendarmerie.[12]
The Romanian Gendarmerie was engaged during the Second Balkan War and the First World War with military police duties, policing the front, guarding important installations and organizing the evacuation during the 1916 retreat. The corps also saw actual combat during the 1917 campaign (see also Romanian Campaign (World War I)). The Gendarmerie oversaw the demobilization of the Army in July 1918 and the re-mobilization in October 1918 and maintained the public order in the new territories.[12]
Upon the entry of Romania into the Second World War on June 22, 1941, the Gendarmerie took over its military police duties again. It was also involved in the deportation of Jews and Gypsies to Transnistria in 1941 and 1942 (see also Romania and the Holocaust).
After the war, the Communist regime purged and disbanded (on January 23, 1949) the Gendarmerie, its personnel being redistributed to the newly-created Directorate for Security Troops, modeled after the NKVD Internal Troops.[12]
The Romanian Gendarmerie was re-established on July 5, 1990.
Starting in 2006, the corps abandoned conscription and in 2007 it became an all-professional military force.
The commanders of the Gendarmerie since its establishment in 1893:[13]
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During the period up to 1915 the Romanian Gendarmerie wore a distinctive dress comprising a shako with white plume, dark blue tunic with red facings, white trefoil epaulettes and aiguillettes plus light blue trousers with red stripes. Mounted units of the Gendarmerie wore a silver helmet with spike and white plume, a similar tunic to the foot branch but with yellow epaulettes and aiguillettes, white breeches and high boots.
Currently the Romanian gendarmes wear dark blue berets/caps, shirts/T-shirts and trousers as everyday uniforms, while the dress uniform consists of a light blue tunic, white shirt, dark blue tie and dark blue trousers for the commissioned officers, and a dark blue tunic, white shirt and dark blue trousers for the NCO's and privates. The Honour Guard (Garda de Onoare) wears a light blue and black uniform of nineteenth century style with plumed kepis, white fringed epaulettes and red facings.[14]
Because the Gendarmerie is a military body, it uses the same ranking system as the Romanian Land Forces.
| NATO Code | OF-10 | OF-9 | OF-8 | OF-7 | OF-6 | OF-5 | OF-4 | OF-3 | OF-2 | OF-1 | OF(D) | Student Officer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Romania (Edit) | No Equivalent | No Equivalent | |||||||||||
| Mareşal1 | General | General-locotenent | General-maior | General de brigadă | Colonel | Locotenent-colonel | Maior | Căpitan | Locotenent | Sublocotenent | |||
| NATO Code | OR-9 | OR-8 | OR-7 | OR-6 | OR-5 | OR-4 | OR-3 | OR-2 | OR-1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Romania (Edit) | No Equivalent | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Plutonier adjutant sef | Plutonier adjutant | Plutonier-major | Plutonier | Sergent-major | Sergent | Caporal | Fruntaş | Jandarm | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Romanian Gendarmerie is a full member of the Association of the European and Mediterranean Police Forces and Gendarmeries with Military Status (FIEP), along with the French Gendarmerie, the Italian Carabinieri, the Spanish Guardia Civil, the Portuguese Guarda Nacional Republicana, the Turkish Gendarmerie, the Moroccan Royal Gendarmerie and the Dutch Royal Marechaussee.[15]
After Romania's accession to the European Union, the Jandarmeria sought to be accepted as permanent observer to the European Gendarmerie Force, as a first step towards full membership.[16] On March 3, 2009, the Romanian Gendarmerie became full member of the European Gendarmerie Force.[17]
Since February 2002, 115 Romanian gendarmes have been deployed in Peć, Kosovo, as part of the UNMIK police force.[18]
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