History of Lithuanian Criminal police

7/02/1920The Militia Unit of the Citizen Security Department was reorganised into an independent Militia Department and Lieutenant Colonel P. Sližys was appointed Director of it. There were 60 undercover agents of the criminal militia working all over Lithuania at that time. 
1/09/1920A bureau of the Lithuanian Criminal Police Militia Centre was established, Mr. A. Veselis was appointed head of it.  
5/01/1924Mr. K. Žalkauskas, Minister of the Interior, signed an order according to which all the militia officials and servants became police officials and servants since 1 January. Thus, the Lithuanian militia was reorganised into the police in this way. The Lithuanian police was divided into the public, criminal, railway, border, private, security police and the auxiliary (reserve) police.
1926A legitimacy sign of the Lithuanian criminal police was created and registered which was valid till 1933. The author of the sign was Mr. A. Žmuidzinavičius, a painter. 
1/01/1927The criminal police was combined with political (security) police and was jointly called the Criminal Police. The Criminal Unit of the Citizen Security Department was liquidated and an independent Criminal Police Centre was established which was under the control of the Minister of the Interior. 
13/03/1928The Statute of the Criminal Police was approved under the order of the Minister of the Interior. 
1/04/1931Having Mr. A. Aravičius, Minister of the Interior, resigned on 1 April 1931, Lieutenant Colonel S. Rusteika, Director of the Criminal Police, was appointed Minister of the Interior who set that the Lithuanian Criminal Police day should be commemorated on 27 October annually.
7-12/05/1934The 10th anniversary meeting of the International Criminal Police Commission (Interpol) was held in Vienna. The Lithuanian delegation comprised Mr. J. Statkus, Director of State Security Department, as a permanent member of the International Criminal Police Commission (Interpol), and Mr. A. Jakobas, Jurist of the Ministry of the Interior. From 1934 to through 1940 Lithuania was represented by Mr. P. Pamataitis, Chief of the Criminal Police, in the commission mentioned, in 1935 he was appointed Vice-Chairman (Vice-President) of the Commission. Pre-war Lithuania was the third state in the world (after Germany and Denmark) which recognised Interpol. 
1/01/1935The Citizen Security Department of the Ministry of the Interior was renamed and started to be called the Police Department along with the approval of its new structure. Mr. K. Svilas was appointed Director of the Police Department. The Criminal Police started functioning as an individual part of the State Security Department.
1/01/1936In cooperation with famous scientists and criminology experts, the Lithuanian Criminal Police launched the publication of a departmental magazine “The Criminology Manual” (Lithuanian: Kriminalistikos žinynas) on 1 January 1936. In total 33 numbers of the magazine were published. Mr. A. Povilaitis, Director of the State Security Department, was the editor of the magazine and B. Kalvaitis acted as the publisher. 
15/06/1940On 15 June 1940 (when Lithuania was being occupied by the Soviet army) there were 227 positions in the Lithuanian Criminal Police. 
11/12/1990The Supreme Council of the Republic of Lithuania adopted the Police Law and the Lithuanian militia was reorganised into the police. The Criminal Police (also called the Non-Uniformed Police) was considered a type of the national police. The Criminal Police Chief Board of the Police Department was established, which became a new structural subdivision of the Criminal Police, consisting of structural investigation subdivisions of different crimes, called bureaus, namely, Organised Crime, Operational Intelligence, Economic Crimes, Criminal Investigation and Forensic Examinations. 
4/04/1991The Rapid Response Team “Aras” was established. 
2001The Criminal Police was reorganised in the course of the reorganisation of the Police Department, the Lithuanian Criminal Police Bureau was established. Mr. V. Telyčėnas was appointed head of it.
1/05/2003After the new Criminal Code of the Republic of Lithuania, the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Republic of Lithuania and the Penal Sanction Enforcement Code of the Republic of Lithuania came into force on 1 May 2003, Police and Interrogation Departments were reorganised with a view of incorporation of inquiry and interrogation subdivisions into police agencies. Police agencies became pre-trial investigation agencies and part of employees of the Interrogation Department joined the Lithuanian Criminal Police Bureau. 
1/07/2013In response to the challenges posed by the contemporary forms of crime, the structure of the Lithuanian Criminal Police Bureau was rearranged and execution of new functions was initiated on 1 July 2013. Asset Recovery Board was established and units on the fight against terrorism as well as cybercrime investigation and other units were reinforced. Work with covert human intelligence sources was rearranged and information analysis sector was strengthened. Work of the criminal police in the field of information technologies was optimised. The Lithuanian Criminal Police Bureau was granted a right of and it was also made responsible for the control of the activity of territorial police agencies in the fields of criminal intelligence and pre-trial investigation. Moreover, functions not characteristic of the central criminal police agency were refused.
3/02/2014A modern Criminal Intelligence Training Centre of the Lithuanian Criminal Police was established where intense training is organised for criminal police officers.  
2014/2015In 2014 and in 2015 when the reorganisation of the criminal police was taking place, specialised subdivisions of criminal police were established in county police headquarters where the main resources and the highest level of competence of territorial police agencies were concentrated. Equal competence for analogical criminal police subdivisions in county police headquarters was regulated, procedures of minor crime investigation were simplified, pre-trial investigation was optimised and consolidated. Distribution of work load of criminal experts was equalised in the country. Criminal intelligence was made more efficient which is now concentrated in specialised criminal police subdivisions of county police headquarters. Furthermore, work with covert human intelligence sources was reorganised in county police headquarters and analytical activity was strengthened. 
6/04/2016Optimisation of the activity of the Lithuanian Criminal Police Bureau which is the central criminal police agency in the country was completed. Coordination and control of criminal police subdivisions in county police headquarters of the country, supervision and analysis of results, provision of guidelines as well as practical and methodological assistance were strengthened. In addition to that, the following priority fields of activities were tightened: suppression, disclosure and investigation of organised crime, terrorism, illicit drug trafficking, cybercrime, trafficking in human beings and recovery of criminal assets. Coordination of international cooperation was improved. Training quality in the field of criminal intelligence was enhanced. The field of information analysis was strengthened and a new methodology of strategic information analysis was implemented at the national level. 

Last updated: 03-01-2024