Shahrbani

Shahrbani (Persian: شهربانی Shahrbâni [ˌʃæhɹbɒːˈniː]; lit. 'City Police'), formerly called Nazmiyeh (نظمیه Nazmiyye [næzmiːˈje]; lit. 'Order Service'), was a law enforcement force in Iran with police duties inside cities. Founded during the Qajar era, it was eventually merged in 1991 with the Iranian Gendarmerie and the Islamic Revolution Committees to form the Police Command of the Islamic Republic of Iran (Faraja).^[1]

Nazmiyye (1913–1935) Shahrbani (1935–1991)
Official seal until 1979
1979–1991
Agency overview
Formed	22 June 1913
Dissolved	1 April 1991
Superseding agency	Police Command of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Jurisdictional structure
National agency	Iran
Operations jurisdiction	Iran
General nature	Civilian police
Operational structure
Headquarters	Tehran
Parent agency	Ministry of Interior

History

The institutional foundations of the Shahrbani were established during the early twentieth century, when Iran’s urban police were reorganized from locally based Nazmiyeh units into a centralized national body.^[2] Between 1911 and 1935, spanning the late Qajar (1789-1925) and early Pahlavi (1925-1979) era's, successive governments sought to professionalize law enforcement by adopting European administrative models while emphasizing Iranian nationalism and self-reliance.^[3] Foreign officers such as Conte di Monteforte of Austria-Hungary and Swedish police instructors introduced early reforms, but their influence ended with Reza Shah Pahlavi’s program of nationalization and central control.^[4] New police academies were opened, modern investigative divisions were created, and the professional journal Nazmiyeh began publication in 1925 to provide technical and moral training for officers.^[5] The reforms of this period transformed policing from a local, mediatory system into a hierarchical, state-run service that became known as the Shahrbani-ye koll-e keshvar (National Police).^[6]