In most countries, federal police agencies have relatively narrow police powers, as the individual states or provinces will usually run their own police forces to enforce laws within their own boundaries. However, in some countries federal police agencies have the responsibility for local law enforcement in territories which are outside the jurisdiction of any particular state.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) is atypical in that in addition to acting as a federal, or national, police agency and policing the country's three Territories , it is also contracted by most of Canada's provinces and many municipalities to police those jurisdictions, even though they are constitutionally provincial responsibilities. This arrangement has been achieved by formal agreement between those provinces and the RCMP and reduces the number of agencies policing the same geographical area.
