Shurṭa (Arabic: شرطة‎) is the common Arabic term for police, although its precise meaning is that of a "picked" or elite force. Bodies termed shurṭa were established in the early days of the Caliphate, perhaps as early as the caliphate of Uthman (644–656). In Umayyad and Abbasid times, it had considerable power, and its head, the ṣāḥib al-shurṭa (Arabic: صاحب الشرطة‎), was an important official, whether at the provincial level or in the central government.