Federal police

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Federal police agencies are responsible for the enforcement of federal laws in countries with a federal constitution. Their exact role varies from country to country, but their work typically includes areas such as immigration control, investigating counterfeiting, policing of airports, and the protection of the head of state and of other members of federal institutions. They may also be responsible for the investigation and prevention of crimes which are not local to just one state or province; for example, kidnapping, narcotics trafficking, and fraud. The provision of law enforcement on land and in buildings owned or controlled by the federal government will also usually be the responsibility of a federal police agency.

In most countries, federal police agencies have relatively narrow police powers, as the individual states or provinces will usually run their own police forces to enforce laws within their own boundaries. However, in some countries federal police agencies have the responsibility for local law enforcement in territories which are outside the jurisdiction of any particular state.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) operates in an unusual manner, in that in addition to acting as a federal police agency on a nationwide basis, and providing policing for the country's three territories, it also provides policing to most of the country's provinces, even though the provinces are formally responsible for providing their own policing. This arrangement has been achieved by formal agreement between the provinces involved and the RCMP, and goes some way to avoid the necessity of having more than one police force operating in parallel in the same area.

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