Regulations published in 1986 under Law Number 51 of 1984 on Police Organization (Establishment, Functions, and Authorities) of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus defined the area of jurisdiction of the police force of northern Cyprus. The Police Organization was divided into two major components, the central and provincial organizations. The director general of police, the most senior officer of the Police Organization, was responsible to the commander of the Turkish Cypriot Security Force with regard to planning, coordination, and supervision of police services. Under the immediate control of the director general's deputy were nine central police directorates: administrative judicial police political police air, sea, and ports police traffic the fire service police school immigration and indigenous affairs. Two special units, the Mobile Unit for Immediate Action and the narcotics squad, were directly accountable to the director general

The Judicial Police Directorate assisted provincial police organizations in criminal investigations and carried out its own judicial investigations in matters of special interest to the director general. Its branches included photographic identification and fingerprinting criminal records firearms registration ballistics laboratories and a bomb squad. The Political Police Directorate included departments of domestic and foreign intelligence. The directorate tried to gain advance knowledge of actions or plans that could affect internal security and carried out measures for dealing with them. Provincial political police departments were directly subordinate to the central directorate, gathering information on threatened offenses or incidents against the security of the state and other duties as assigned by the director of political police. The combined staffing of the central political police organization and the five provincial organizations was set at 107 individuals.

Separate provincial police directorates were established at Nicosia, Famagusta (Gazimagusa), Kyrenia (Girne), Morphou, and the Karpas Peninsula. Under the supervision of each provincial directorate were three or four regional directorates and six to twelve police stations. The provincial police directorates also had six service units: administration, judicial police, traffic, immigration, fire, and administrative and indigenous affairs.

Data as of January 1991