There were two types of foreign settlement police: the first kind (present at the foreign settlements in Tsukiji, Yokohama, and Nagasaki) was under the jurisdiction of the ongoku bugyo (magistrates of distant provinces) in the Edo period and the prefectural police departments during the Meiji period, while the second kind of foreign settlement police force (like that in place at the foreign settlements in Kawaguchi and Kobe) was established autonomously by the inhabitants and was entirely unsupervised by Japan's Ministry of Home Affairs.
江戸時代の遠国奉行や明治の府県警察部の管轄下にある居留地警察（築地居留地・横浜居留地・長崎居留地）と、居留地の自治組織によって設置され、内務省(日本)が全く関知しない居留地警察（川口居留地・神戸居留地）の二通りの警察組織が存在する。