Peruvian Investigative Police
# Peruvian Investigative Police

The Peruvian Investigative Police (Spanish: Policía de Investigaciones del Perú, PIP) was a Peruvian plainclothes police unit, similar to the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which was meant to investigate crimes, gather intelligence, and fight subversion. In 1988, the PIP was merged into the National Police of Peru, along with two other police forces, the Guardia Civil (GC) and the Guardia Republicana (GR), all three of which were under the direction of the Ministry of Interior.

## History

Until the 20th century, investigative duties were performed by a number of police organizations in Peru, including the Lima Police, Civil Guard and the National Gendarmerie, as well as select senior NCOs of the Peruvian Army. The Lima Police's investigative section traces its origins to 1882, becoming one of the first city police forces to form a investigative section in South America at that time.

### Creation

On August 7, 1919, President Augusto Bernardino Leguía Salcedo enacted Legislative Decree No. 1163 which began the reorganization of the police services. Among others the decree granted the wishes of many officers for a separate academy for the education and training of law enforcement officers. To fulfil this mission the President sent a request to HM King Alfonso XIII of Spain to send Spanish Civil Guard officers for the police reorganization plan and the creation of the long awaited police academy and later created a reorganization mission through a Supreme Resolution dated April 4, 1921. The training mission was led by Lieutenant Colonel Pedro Pueyo, SCG, and on January 21, 1922, the training mission staff presented their 14 bills to the President and the Minister of Government, one of them concerning the future officer school and the long awaited separate unit for investigative work. Formerly these officer cadets of the Civil Guard, the Security Corps, and the soon to be created Investigation and Surveillance Brigade shared the same academy as the officer cadets of the Peruvian Army: the Chorrillos Military School, and shared the same reporting ministry in the War Ministry, not in the Government and Police Ministry, as well as the military tradition and rank system as part of the Peruvian Armed Forces, while the CGIC was only limited to other ranks as well as being the post graduate specialty school for the officers.

On July 2 the same year, President Leguía officially created through Supreme Decree the "School of the Civil Guard and the Police of the Republic", and formally laid the groundwork for the future creation of a national investigations service. The said school, alongside training future detective officers, had a separate section set for NCOs and agents of investigative policing with an fingerprinting section attached as per the recommendations made by the Civil Guard mission. The new academy, opened on November 1, had 30 cadets of the investigation course and a number of investigation officer cadets wearing Civil Guard and Security Corps uniforms.

On October 12, 1922, the long awaited day came when President Leguía created what was then the Investigation and Surveillance Brigade (ISB) (Brigada de Investigación y Vigilancia, BIV), organized into the following:

* Presidential Section
* Foreigners Police
* Investigative Operations and Detection Section
* Fingerprinting Section

The ISB, under the overall command of the Inspector General of Police, a general-ranked officer, was under a Technical Inspector. For all effects and purposes the ISB was a separate investigative section under the full responsibility of the Civil Guard which also served the needs of the also newly created Security Corps.

### Growth

On March 12, 1924, a Ministerial Resolution by the Ministry of Government and Police officially adopted the fingerprinting system invented by Federico Olóriz Aguilera in Spain for use by the ISB.

On August 26, 1929, the ISB was upgraded into the Investigation and Surveillance Corps (ISC).

In 1933 the Technical Police Laboratories in Lima were opened in the presence of President Oscar R. Benavides, giving the ISC a modern and up to date facility for investigative work. 4 years later, the Lima Criminological Laboratories opened its doors. In 1938 the NCO Cadet Course (Investigation) of the Police Academy was opened with an initial makeup of 100 NCO cadets and basic training agents.

To better supervise the ISC, the Directorate for Investigation was created in 1946. Under President José Luis Bustamante it had its organic law updated in 1948 to catch up with the changing trends in investigative work. His successor, President General Manuel Arturo Odría, upgraded it to a Directorate General in the Civil Guard organization.

## Ranks and insignia

### Officer corps

| Commissioned Officers (1923-1928) | Commissioned Officers (1929-1958) | Commissioned Officers (1959-1969) | Commissioned Officers (1969-1980) | Commissioned Officers (1980-1988) | English translation (Military/police rank) |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| No equivalent | No equivalent | Inspector General Superior | Inspector General | Teniente General | Lieutenant General (IP) Commissioner General |
| No equivalent | No equivalent | Inspector General Mayor | Inspector Mayor | General | Major General (IP) Commissioner |
| No equivalent | Inspector General | Inspector General | Inspector Superior | Coronel | Colonel Detective Commander |
| No equivalent | Sub-Inspector | Sub-Inspector | Inspector | Comandante | Lieutenant Colonel Detective Chief Superintendent |
| Inspector | Comisario | Comisario | Comisario Superior | Mayor | Major Detective Superintendent |
| Oficial Primero | Oficial Primero | Oficial Primero | Comisario Primero | Capitan | Captain Detective Chief Inspector |
| Oficial Segundo | Oficial Segundo | Oficial Segundo | Comisario Segundo | Teniente | First Lieutenant Detective Senior Inspector |
| Vigilante | Vigilante | Vigilante | Sub-Comisario | Alferez | Second Lieutenant Detective Inspector |

### Other ranks

| Non-Commissioned Officers (1938-1969) | Non-Commissioned Officers (1969-1980) | Non-Commissioned Officers (until 1988) | English translation (Police rank) |
| - | - | - | - |
| Brigadier de primera (10 years or more) | Brigadier tecnico | Suboficial superior | Detective Station inspector |
| Brigadier de primera | Brigadier de primera | Suboficial de primera | Detective Sub-inspector |
| Brigadier de segunda | Brigadier de segunda | Suboficial de segunda | Detective Master Sergeant |
| Brigadier de tercera | Brigadier de tercera | Suboficial de tercera | Detective Sergeant First Class |
| Auxiliar de Primera | Vigilante de Primera | Sargento Primero | Detective Station Sergeant |
| Auxiliar de Segunda | Vigilante de Segunda | Sargento Segundo | Detective Sergeant |
| Auxiliar de Tercera | Vigilante de Tercera | Cabo | Detective Corporal |
| Auxiliar de Tercera (following NCO course graduation) | Vigilante de cuarta | Agente | Agent Detective |
