[1] The founding date of the Latvian Police is considered to be December 5th, 1918, when the transitional government of the newly-proclaimed Republic of Latvia, the People's Council of Latvia, approved the Temporary Regulations on the Internal Security Organization (Pagaidu noteikumi par iekšējās apsardzības organizēšanu), which regulated the structure of the police force and put it under jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Interior of Latvia, led by Miķelis Valters.

Facing a lack of qualified personnel, the Police School at the Riga Prefecture was opened in the same year.

In 1992, the battalion was renamed as the Security Service of the Republic of Latvia (Latvijas Republikas Drošības dienests), which was merged into the Military Police in 2010.

[1] The previous police chief Ints Ķuzis, incumbent since 2nd of August 2011, resigned on 20 February 2020 to run as a candidate for the 2020 Riga City Council election, later he died in 2022, after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.

The candidate selection is based on a number of physical, cognitive, memory, communication and psychological tests.

A candidate must be a Latvian citizen between 18 and 40 years of age with a secondary education certificate and not have committed any intentional crimes for a successful application.

In 1991, the Latvian State Police first adopted a grey-white vehicle livery, which was designed by Gunārs Glūdiņš, a former professor of the Art Academy of Latvia.

In June 2018, while celebrating its 100th anniversary, the Police unveiled its new visual identity: a new, pre-WWII-style logo based on the lesser coat of arms of Latvia and new livery with blue, lime green and grey elements inspired by a Latvian folk ornament, the Brush of Māra (Māras Slotiņa).