The National Republican Guard () or GNR is the national gendarmerie force of Portugal.
Members of the GNR are military personnel, subject to military law and organisation, unlike the agents of the civilian Public Security Police (PSP).
The GNR is responsible for the preventive police and highway patrol in 94% of Portuguese territory. At national level, GNR also has duties of customs enforcement, coastal control, nature protection, search and rescue operations and state ceremonial guards of honor.
Since the 2000s, the GNR has provided detachments for participation in international operations in Iraq, East Timor and other theatres.
As October 2023, the GNR is now partly in charge of controlling the Portuguese borders (alongside the PSP), with the dissolution of the Foreigners and Borders Service.
Strength
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The GNR deploys over 22,608 personnel over 90 percent of Portuguese territory. The GNR are deployed in Bosnia as part of IFOR/SFOR/EUFOR Althea In wartime or situations of crisis, the GNR can be placed under the operational control of the Armed Forces General Staff. The old organization also included a central structure that reflected the command of a military field division, including a military-type staff.
In 2006, the multinational consulting company Accenture made a study, requested by the Government of Portugal, that recommended the change of the organization of the Portuguese security forces, including a radical reorganization of the GNR.
Most of the recommendations regarding GNR were accepted and, in accordance with the Law No. 63/2007 (new Organic Law of the GNR), its traditional structure was replaced by a new and considerably different one, that was implemented in early 2009.
The GNR is commanded by a general officer, with the title of Commandant-General ().
The National Republican Guard now includes the following:
Command Headquarters and HQ Services, NRG
Source:
- GNR General Headquarters in Largo do Carmo, in Central Lisbon;
Reporting directly to the Commandant-General are the following:
- (DJD, Directorate of Justice and Discipline);
- (DPERI, Strategic Planning and International Relations Division);
- (DCRP, Communications and Public Relations Division);
- (CO, Operational Command);
- (CARI, Command of the Administration of Internal Resources);
- (CDF, Training and Doctrine Command).
Territorial Units
The old four-brigade structure was replaced by a system of territorial commands, each covering a district or an autonomous region. Each territorial command – commanded by a colonel or lieutenant colonel – includes detachments – commanded by majors, captains or junior officer, Sub-detachments – led by junior officers – and posts – led by sergeants. Each territorial command usually includes a traffic detachment (from the former Traffic Brigade) and a detachment of intervention. The territorial commands of the Azores and Madeira play, essentially, just a coastal monitoring and fiscal actions, respectively, under the functional dependence of the UCC and UAF. The current territorial commands correspond essentially to the previous territorial groups of the old territorial brigades. With the extinction of the territorial brigades by the end of 2008, the territorial commands were placed in direct dependence on the central structure of command of GNR;
The territorial commands are as follows:
- Azores Territorial Command ()
- Aveiro Territorial Command ()
- Beja Territorial Command ()
- Braga Territorial Command ()
- Bragança Territorial Command ()
- Castelo Branco Territorial Command ()
- Coimbra Territorial Command ()
- Évora Territorial Command ()
- Faro Territorial Command ()
- Guarda Territorial Command ()
- Leiria Territorial Command ()
- Lisbon Territorial Command ()
- Madeira Territorial Command ()
- Portalegre Territorial Command ()
- Porto Territorial Command ()
- Santarém Territorial Command ()
- Setúbal Territorial Command ()
- Viseu Territorial Command ()
- Viana do Castelo Territorial Command ()
- Vila Real Territorial Command ()
Special Units
Special Units fall directly under the Operations Command ().
Police services in Portugal have always used a wide range of firearms in 9×19mm to equip their personnel.
{| class="wikitable"
! style="text-align:center; background:#acc;"|Weapon
! style="text-align: center; background:#acc;"|Origin
! style="text-align:l center; background:#acc;"|Type
|-
| ASP Street Defender
| rowspan="3" |
| rowspan="2" | Standard issue pepper spray
|-
| ASI 2000
|-
| Taser X26
| Less lethal electroshock weapon
|-
| Glock 19
| rowspan="2" |
| Standard issue sidearm
|-
| Glock 17
| rowspan="4" | Sidearm for special operations
|-
| Heckler & Koch USP Compact
| rowspan="3" |
|-
| SIG Sauer SP 2022
|-
| Walther P99
|-
| Desert Eagle
|
| Sidearm for special operations, chambered in .357 Magnum
|-
| Heckler & Koch MP5
| rowspan="3" |
| rowspan="3" | Submachine gun
|-
| Heckler & Koch MP7
|-
| HK UMP45
|-
| Brügger & Thomet MP9
|
| Submachine gun
|-
| Fabarm SDASS Tactical
| rowspan="3" |
| rowspan="3" | Shotgun
|-
| Benelli M3
|-
| Benelli M4
|-
| H&K G3A3
| rowspan="5" |
| rowspan="5" | Assault rifle
|-
| HK G36
|-
| H&K 416A5
|-
| H&K 417A2
|-
| H&K G28
|-
| Brügger & Thomet APR
|
| rowspan="3" | Sniper rifle
|-
| MSG-90
|
|-
| Accuracy International AW50
|
|-
| Heckler & Koch MG4
|
| rowspan="3" | Machine gun for special operations
|-
| FN MAG
|
|-
| Browning M2
|
|-
| H&K GMG
| rowspan="2" |
| rowspan="4" | Less lethal launcher
|-
| Heckler & Koch AG36
|-
| Flash-ball
| rowspan="2" |
|-
| Cougar 56mm
|-
|}
; Retired sidearms
{| class="wikitable"
! style="text-align:center; background:#acc;"|Weapon
! style="text-align: center; background:#acc;"|Origin
|-
| Walther PP
| rowspan="2" |
|-
| Walther P38
|-
| Browning Hi-Power
|
|-
| Heckler & Koch P9S
| rowspan="4" |
|-
| Heckler & Koch VP70M
|-
| SIG Sauer P226
|-
| Walther P5
|-
| Star Model B
|
|-
|}
Vehicles
; Patrol cars
- Audi A4 B8 3.0 V6 (unmarked cars, highway patrol)
- Audi TTS 8S and Audi TT 8N (highway patrol)
- BMW 535d (unmarked cars, highway patrol)
- BMW 5 Series (F10) (1 unit, special vehicle)
- Citroën C-Elysée (527 units)
- Lexus IS 220d (unmarked cars, highway patrol)
- Mitsubishi Lancer
- Nissan Almera
- Nissan GT-R (1 unit, special vehicle)
- Porsche 911
- Skoda Octavia (hundreds of units)
- Škoda Superb (99 units)
- Subaru Impreza STI (some unmarked cars, highway patrol)
- Toyota Avensis (hundreds of units)
- Toyota Corolla
- Toyota Yaris
- Volkswagen Golf GTI Mk5
- Iveco Eurotech 6x6 tow truck (3 units)
- Iveco Trakker 330E5 (HAZMAT units)
- MAN TGM 13.290 4×4 BB
- MAN TGS 35.460 8×8 BB
- Mercedes-Benz Sprinter
- Mercedes-Benz Vito
- Mitsubishi Fuso Canter FE74B 4×4
- Scania P230 (1 unit)
- Renault Kangoo
- Renault Trafic (60 units)
; Armoured and water cannon vehicles
- Iveco VM 90P Protetto (21 units, special operations)
- MAN TGM 18.290 4X2 BL (1 unit)
Others
- Manitou MT625H Forklift
- MAN 18.370 HOCLA-II Bus
- Polaris RZR
- Tekever AR4 Light Ray
- UAVision SPYRO
See also
- Polícia de Segurança Pública – Portuguese police force
- Polícia Judiciária – Portuguese criminal investigation police
- Serviço de Estrangeiros e Fronteiras – Portuguese border and immigration police