150 Years of the National Police Polícia de Segurança Pública

Stylised depictions of a female and a male figure alongside buildings and the police force's logo. The year "1867" and the issue year "2017", the issuing state "PORTUGAL" and the inscription "SEGURANÇA PÚBLICA", together with the words "DIREITOS", "LIBERDADES" and "GARANTIAS" (Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees). Below: the designer's name and mintmark.

In 1867, during the constitutional monarchy under King Luís I, Portugal founded the Polícia de Segurança Pública, a state law enforcement authority that is still regarded today as one of the country's central security institutions. Established in the context of far-reaching modernisation efforts of the late 19th century, the PSP was from the outset oriented towards protecting the urban population - initially above all in Lisbon and Porto. Over the decades, the authority underwent several structural reforms, adapted to changing forms of state and survived the transition from dictatorship to democracy after the Carnation Revolution of 1974. Since then, the PSP has been bound by a constitution that explicitly protects the fundamental rights, freedoms and guarantees of citizens - values that shape the institution's self-understanding in the democratic era.

Today the Polícia de Segurança Pública comprises around 20,000 personnel and is responsible for public safety in Portugal's urban centres as well as on the island groups of Madeira and the Azores. By international comparison, the PSP is one of the oldest still-active police institutions in southern Europe. The 150th anniversary in 2017 gave Portugal the occasion to honour this institutional continuity - from the constitutional monarchy through dictatorship and revolution to the present within the European Union.