[3][1][2] Unlike many South American countries, the Bolivian police force always has been accountable to the national government rather than to state or local officials.

[5] The constitutional mission of the national police is to preserve public order, protect society through its specialized agencies, and guarantee enforcement of the laws.

The director general, who may be a civilian but almost invariably has been a high-ranking career police officer (usually with colonel rank), normally exercises operational control.

[5] The police corps, with at least 40.000 personnel in the 2020s, consists of: All of these subordinate entities were separate administrative units within the director general's office.

[5] The National Police are led by a Commandant General, currently Colonel Ciro Oscar Farfán Medina, who was named in the wake of the René Sanabria affair and took office on 11 March 2011.

The urban command, at the departmental capital, operated the police stations and local jails and was also divided into patrol and criminal investigation sections.

An exception was the city of La Paz, where two separate regiments of carabineers were kept under the direct control of the director general and the president.

[5] Certain departmental brigade personnel of the rural command were assigned to a series of frontier posts scattered at twenty-seven critical points along the borders and at river and lake ports of entry.

They included Customs Police integral to the corps, as well as uniformed carabineers concerned with combating smuggling and other forms of illegal border crossing.

The remaining 20 percent were civilian police investigators involved in crime detection, forensic science, administration, or logistics.

The La Paz Departmental Police also had an Explosives Brigade (Brigada de Explosivos), which was subordinate to the Fire Corps.

The Feminine Police Brigade (Brigada Policial Femenina) served in an auxiliary or support capacity to the operational units.

In March 1987, French police advisers and Bolivian experts began giving a three-month antiterrorism course – consisting of technical and psychological training – to 400 GES members.

That June the Bolivian police announced officially the creation of a twenty-two-member antiterrorist command, the Multipurpose Intervention Brigade (Brigada de Intervención Polivalente, BIP), responsible for solving cases of "uncommon violence" such as kidnapping, hostage-taking, and outbreaks of subversion.

[5] The narcotics police, with about 6,000 members as of the late 1980s, included the Special Antinarcotics Force (Fuerza Especial de Lucha Contra el Narcotráfico, FELCN) created in 1987, and a subordinate force, the Mobile Police Unit for Rural Areas (Unidad Móvil Policial para reas Rurales, Umopar).

The Umopar, popularly known as "The Leopards" (Los Leopardos), was formed in late 1983 under a United States-funded program designed to eradicate the nation's cocaine trade and in accordance with four treaties on narcotics, signed by both countries on August 11, 1983.

[5] The National Tourism Police has offices in La Paz and Cochabamba with plans to expand to Santa Cruz, providing free assistance to tourists.

Due to the lack of funding, inmates have to buy or rent their cell space and pay for meals; hence the majority of prisoners have to undertake some form of work once inside.

Historically, the police force was an unpopular career choice because of poor pay, conditions, and prestige and thus did not attract high-quality personnel.

Officers were commissioned by graduation from the National Police Academy, by transfer from the army, by direct political appointment for demonstrated ability, or by outright patronage.

In the early 1980s, the academy's curriculum included criminal law, penal and civil investigation, criminology, ballistics, laboratory science, narcotics, vehicular and pedestrian traffic, order and security of persons and installations, martial arts, and human and public relations.

[5] In the past, admissions requirements for the academy gave greater importance to political reliability and unquestioned loyalty to the government than to education.

On graduation, which required passing an examination, cadets received a bachelor of humanities certificate, a saber to symbolize officer rank, and a commission as second lieutenant in the carabineers.

[5] The Higher Police School (Escuela Superior de Policías—ESP) was created in February 1969 for officers in the ranks of lieutenant colonel and above.