Special police

Special police usually describes a law enforcement agency or unit within such an agency whose duties and responsibilities are significantly different from other forces in the same nation, jurisdiction, or from other personnel within the same agency, although there is no consistent international definition. Generally, special police personnel hold some level of police powers; sometimes they hold the same powers and authority of other law enforcement officers within their jurisdiction, more rarely they will have no powers beyond that of the average citizen, but at a minimum they will typically possess enhanced detainment and arrest authority. 'Special police' may also be used to describe individuals who are granted police powers incidental to their primary duties, such as welfare fraud investigators, certain security guards, child welfare investigators, and agricultural inspectors, among others. Special police personnel may work for governmental, public, or private entities. Special police personnel may be armed or unarmed.

'Special police' is also occasionally used when referring to an 'elite' law enforcement agency or unit, such as special weapons and tactics (SWAT) units or other similar paramilitary forces who have some level of police powers.

"Special police" is not a term used in Canada, but specialized police agencies exist in Alberta, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, and Ontario. Canada also makes use of special constables, a similar concept to "special police".

In Alberta, special police forces can be maintained by transit authorities and universities and are usually referred to as protective services. Protective services are staffed by unarmed community peace officers who have law enforcement powers but cannot enforce criminal legislation.

In British Columbia, any provincially-approved entity or First Nation can establish a designated policing unit (DPU) to supplement "the policing and law enforcement otherwise provided by the provincial police force or a municipal police department." Although officers of a DPU are armed police officers with the same authority as any other municipal police officer, designated policing units must comply with stricter regulations compared to municipal police services and are led by a Chief Officer, who has less authority over their staff than an ordinary police chief. As of 2022, there are three designated policing units in the province: the Metro Vancouver Transit Police, which provides police services to TransLink, the regional transit provider in the Vancouver metropolitan area; the Organized Crime Agency of British Columbia, which is responsible for investigating and prosecuting organized crime rings; and the Stlʼatlʼimx Tribal Police Service, which serves ten St'at'imc communities in the northern end of the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District.

There is one special police force in Nova Scotia, the Halifax-Dartmouth Bridge Commission Bridge Patrol. The Patrol is composed of special constables with limited police authority to enforce traffic violations on or near Bridge Commission property.

In Ontario, any organization can request the authority to raise a special constabulary from the local police services board. With some exceptions, officers employed by special constabularies do not carry guns and cannot refer to themselves as police. In general, special constables in Ontario employed by special constabularies have full police powers — including the ability to enforce the Criminal Code — but only on, between, or in relation to property owned by the organization that is responsible for the special constabulary. As of 2022, there is one special constabulary with armed employees, the Niagara Parks Police Service, which is responsible for providing police services to property owned or maintained by the Niagara Parks Commission. Special constabularies are also maintained by universities, transit systems, and public housing authorities.

The Special Police were a branch of the Regular Police who were used for restoring peace and stability if it had been heavily disturbed, counter-terrorism, countering violent groups, and repressing riots (especially in prisons). The Special Police also provided security and public peace, investigated and prevented organized crime, terrorism and other violent groups; protected state and private property; and helped and assisted civilians and other emergency forces in cases of emergency, natural disasters, civil unrest and armed conflicts.^{[citation needed]}