New South Wales Police Force
| New South Wales Police Force | |
|---|---|
Badge | |
Flag | |
| Motto | Culpam Poena Premit Comes Punishment swiftly follows crime |
| Agency overview | |
| Formed | 1862 |
| Employees | 20,547 |
| Annual budget | A$5.51 billion (2024–25) |
| Jurisdictional structure | |
| Operations jurisdiction | New South Wales, Australia |
| Location of New South Wales | |
| Size | 809,444 square kilometres (312,528 sq mi) |
| Population | 8,072,163 |
| Legal jurisdiction | As per operations jurisdiction |
| Governing body | Government of New South Wales |
| Constituting instrument |
|
| General nature | |
| Operational structure | |
| Headquarters | Parramatta, New South Wales |
| Minister responsible | |
| Agency executive | |
| Facilities | |
| Stations | 432 |
| Airbases | 1 |
| Drones | 1 |
| Police Boats | 52 |
| Helicopters | 6 |
| Aeroplanes | 3 |
| Horses | 38 |
| Website | |
| police.nsw.gov.au | |
The New South Wales Police Force, commonly abbreviated as NSW Police Force, is the primary law enforcement agency in the Australian state of New South Wales. Established in 1862, the organisation has more than 17,000 police officers and is the largest police force in Australia. The force has a jurisdiction covering 801,600 square kilometres and more than 8.2 million people.
In 2020, the police force had 21,455 employees – 17,348 police officers and 4,107 support staff, 432 police stations, 3,300 vehicles, 52 boats, 9 aircraft and a budget of AUD $4.8 billion. It is organised into police area commands (PACs) in metropolitan areas, police districts (PDs) in rural areas and specialist commands.
The police force performs law enforcement in all areas of the state. Local government authorities and other agencies have very limited law enforcement responsibilities. The capacity of magistrates and justices to appoint constables was removed and the commissioner of NSW Police now has sole control of the appointment of constables in the state.