[4] The PDI is the principal law enforcement arm of the Public Prosecutor's Office of Chile in criminal investigation.

[5] Then, in 1830, the Vigilantes and Serenos Corps of Santiago were created, whose work was followed throughout the country.

In 1852 the Brigada de Policía was created in Santiago, where the Vigilantes and Serenos Corps were merged.

In the 1870s, the mayor of the city of Santiago, Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna proposed modelling the Brigada de Policía on the Agent de la Sûrete in Paris, France, which was based on the administrative structure of the police force.

In March 2011, fence and arms dealer Italo Nolli shot and killed PDI detectives Marcelo Morales and Kiram Gallardo, the latter of which thus became the first female PDI member killed in the line of duty.