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''Kriminalpolizei'' (, "criminal police") is the standard term for the criminal investigation agency within the police forces of
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...
,
Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
, and the German-speaking cantons of
Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
. In
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
, the Kripo was the criminal police department for the entire Reich. Today, in the
Federal Republic of Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between ...
, the state police (''
Landespolizei ''Landespolizei'' (; ) is a term used to refer to the state police of any of the states of Germany. History The ''Landespolizei'' of today can trace its origins to the late 19th century, when Germany united into a single country in 18 ...
'') perform the majority of investigations. Its Criminal Investigation Department is known as the ''Kriminalpolizei'' or more colloquially, the Kripo.


Foundation

In 1799, six police officers were assigned to the Prussian '' Kammergericht'' (superior court of justice) in
Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...
to investigate more prominent crimes. They were given permission to work in plainclothes, when necessary. Their number increased in the following years. In 1811, their rules of service were written into the ''Berliner Polizeireglement'' (Berlin Police Regulations) and in 1820 the rank of ''Kriminalkommissar'' was introduced for criminal investigators. In 1872 the new ''Kriminalpolizei'' was made a separate branch of police service distinguishing it from the uniformed police called '' Schutzpolizei''. Based on the experience with this new kind of police force, other German states—such as
Bremen Bremen ( Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state cons ...
in 1852—reformed their police forces and by the end of the nineteenth century the ''Kriminalpolizei'' had been established nationwide. During the early part of the 20th century and post-
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
, the Kripo continued to serve as the German state's investigative agency for all criminal activity.


Nazi Germany

After
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and the ...
assumed national power in January 1933, the ''Kriminalpolizei'' came to be under the control of members of the ''
Schutzstaffel The ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS; also stylized as ''ᛋᛋ'' with Armanen runes; ; "Protection Squadron") was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, and later throughout German-occupied Europe ...
'' (SS). The Nazis began a programme of "
coordination Coordination may refer to: * Coordination (linguistics), a compound grammatical construction * Coordination complex, consisting of a central atom or ion and a surrounding array of bound molecules or ions * Coordination number or ligancy of a cent ...
" of all aspects of German life, in order to consolidate their hold on power. In July 1936, the Prussian central criminal investigation department ''(Landeskriminalpolizeiamt)'' became the central criminal investigation department for Germany, the ''
Reichskriminalpolizeiamt ''Reichskriminalpolizeiamt'' (RKPA), was Nazi Germany's central criminal investigation department, founded in 1936 after the Prussian central criminal investigation department ''(Landeskriminalpolizeiamt)'' became the national criminal investigat ...
''. It was combined, along with the secret state police, the ''Geheime Staatspolizei'' (
Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...
) into two sub-branch departments of the ''
Sicherheitspolizei The ''Sicherheitspolizei'' ( en, Security Police), often abbreviated as SiPo, was a term used in Germany for security police. In the Nazi era, it referred to the state political and criminal investigation security agencies. It was made up by the ...
'' (SiPo). Reinhard Heydrich was in overall command of the SiPo. Arthur Nebe was appointed head of the ''Reichskriminalpolizeiamt'' and reported to Heydrich. In September 1939, the
Reich Security Main Office The Reich Security Main Office (german: Reichssicherheitshauptamt or RSHA) was an organization under Heinrich Himmler in his dual capacity as ''Chef der Deutschen Polizei'' (Chief of German Police) and '' Reichsführer-SS'', the head of the Naz ...
(RSHA) was created as the overarching command organization for the various state investigation and security agencies. The SiPo was officially abolished and its departments were folded into the RSHA. The ''
Reichskriminalpolizeiamt ''Reichskriminalpolizeiamt'' (RKPA), was Nazi Germany's central criminal investigation department, founded in 1936 after the Prussian central criminal investigation department ''(Landeskriminalpolizeiamt)'' became the national criminal investigat ...
'' became Amt V (Department 5), the ''Kriminalpolizei'' (Criminal Police) in the RSHA. Nebe was replaced as commander of the Kripo in August 1944 by Friedrich Panzinger. The ''Kriminalpolizei'' were mostly plainclothes detectives and agents, and worked in conjunction with the Gestapo, the ''
Ordnungspolizei The ''Ordnungspolizei'' (), abbreviated ''Orpo'', meaning "Order Police", were the uniformed police force in Nazi Germany from 1936 to 1945. The Orpo organisation was absorbed into the Nazi monopoly on power after regional police jurisdiction ...
'' (Orpo; uniformed police), and the '' Geheime Feldpolizei'' (secret military police). The Kripo was organized in a hierarchical system, with central offices in all towns and smaller cities. These, in turn, answered to headquarters offices in the larger German cities, which answered to Amt V of the RSHA in Berlin. The Kripo was mainly concerned with serious crimes such as
rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ...
,
murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the ...
and
arson Arson is the crime of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, wate ...
. A main area of the group's focus was also on "blackout
burglary Burglary, also called breaking and entering and sometimes housebreaking, is the act of entering a building or other areas without permission, with the intention of committing a criminal offence. Usually that offence is theft, robbery or murd ...
," considered a serious problem during bombing raids when criminals would raid abandoned homes, shops and factories for valuables. The Kripo was one of the sources of manpower used to fill the ranks of the ''
Einsatzgruppen (, ; also ' task forces') were (SS) paramilitary death squads of Nazi Germany that were responsible for mass murder, primarily by shooting, during World War II (1939–1945) in German-occupied Europe. The had an integral role in the im ...
'' and several senior Kripo commanders, Arthur Nebe among them, were assigned as ''Einsatzgruppen'' commanders. The ''Einsatzgruppen'' mobile
death squad A death squad is an armed group whose primary activity is carrying out extrajudicial killings or forced disappearances as part of political repression, genocide, ethnic cleansing, or revolutionary terror. Except in rare cases in which they are f ...
units perpetrated atrocities in the occupied Soviet Union, including mass murder of Jews, communists, prisoners of war, and hostages, and played a key role in
the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europ ...
.


Post World War II

In 1945, the occupying Allied Powers began their own programme of de-Nazification. It was understood that, in a
totalitarian Totalitarianism is a form of government and a political system that prohibits all opposition parties, outlaws individual and group opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high if not complete degree of control and reg ...
state, few people could participate in public service without also being members of the
Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...
. Party membership alone was not viewed as sufficient grounds for dismissal, but allegations of involvement or complicity in Nazi war crimes or
crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity are widespread or systemic acts committed by or on behalf of a ''de facto'' authority, usually a state, that grossly violate human rights. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity do not have to take place within the ...
were investigated and any police official convicted was sentenced in the usual way. However, the Allied Powers felt the
rule of law The rule of law is the political philosophy that all citizens and institutions within a country, state, or community are accountable to the same laws, including lawmakers and leaders. The rule of law is defined in the ''Encyclopedia Britannic ...
would be jeopardised by the mass-sacking of police officials who had served the Nazi state and that maintaining the continuity of a civilian and indigenous police force from the outset, together with all its accumulated practical skills and experience, was the most efficient way of restoring democracy to the German people. Thus the ''Kriminalpolizei'' adapted once more to the changes in oversight and accountability and, as with other public servants, took the political and economic change of the post-war years in its stride. Eastern Germany organised centralized Volkspolizei with Criminal Investigation Department (''Hauptabteilung Kriminalpolizei'').


Present day

The
Federal Republic of Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between ...
divides police responsibilities between federal and state authorities. The state police or ''
Landespolizei ''Landespolizei'' (; ) is a term used to refer to the state police of any of the states of Germany. History The ''Landespolizei'' of today can trace its origins to the late 19th century, when Germany united into a single country in 18 ...
'' of the federal states perform the majority of investigations in Germany. Within the ''Landespolizei'', the Criminal Investigation Department is known as the ''Kriminalpolizei'' or Kripo. The various ''Kriminalpolizei'' departments are organized according to state law and report, ultimately, to the Interior Ministry of their state. As the vast majority of police work is performed at state level, the ''Kriminalpolizei'' conducts most criminal investigations in Germany. ''Kriminalpolizei'' detectives investigate crimes and incidents and work in plainclothes. They collect evidence, interview victims and witnesses and question suspects. Detectives are also involved in the location of missing persons and the recovery of stolen property. Investigators may be assigned to precinct detective squads or one of dozens of specialized investigative units that have borough, citywide or regional jurisdiction. Kripo candidates are mostly regular state police officers who have done well in police school and in their first years of street duty. After rigorous screening and examination, a small number are chosen to receive a technical education in criminology at a police college. Those completing the course then serve a three-year apprenticeship before attaining full status as an investigator. Joint investigation teams are often formed with German Federal Police and
customs Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out of a country. Traditionally, customs ...
investigators to combat drug smuggling or organised crime activities. Each state also has a state investigation bureau or ''
Landeskriminalamt The State Criminal Police Office, or Landeskriminalamt (LKA) in German, is an independent law enforcement agency in all 16 German states that is directly subordinate to the state's ministry of the interior. Missions Investigations LKAs superv ...
'', generally located in the state capital, to assist the Kripo in cases that require specialist forensic or investigative resources. German police departments have separate ''Staatsschutz'' departments within the Kripo to investigate politically motivated crime.
German intelligence agencies German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
have no executive police powers. Their operatives are not authorized to carry out arrests, searches of premises, interrogations or confiscations. If they establish that judicial or police measures are required, they hand the matter over to the courts, public prosecutors or Kripo state security (''Staatsschutz'') officers who decide independently what action is justified. The '' Bundeskriminalamt'', the German Federal Investigation Bureau, and the federal police, '' Bundespolizei'', have their own investigators but these are not referred to as ''Kriminalpolizei''. It is technically possible to transfer from the federal police to the Kripo, but in practice there is little demand for this.


Switzerland

The responsibility for law and order in Switzerland basically lies with the cantons where the cantonal police (''Kantonspolizei'') are responsible for investigations. The Swiss federal structure is reflected in a number of cantonal police services which are organized in different ways, but in the German-speaking cantons, the criminal investigation departments are generally known as ''Kriminalpolizei.''


See also

*''
Landespolizei ''Landespolizei'' (; ) is a term used to refer to the state police of any of the states of Germany. History The ''Landespolizei'' of today can trace its origins to the late 19th century, when Germany united into a single country in 18 ...
'' * ''Sicherheitspolizei'' (Weimar Republic) *''
Sicherheitspolizei The ''Sicherheitspolizei'' ( en, Security Police), often abbreviated as SiPo, was a term used in Germany for security police. In the Nazi era, it referred to the state political and criminal investigation security agencies. It was made up by the ...
'' (Nazi-era) *
Kripos The National Criminal Investigation Service ( no, Den nasjonale enhet for bekjempelse av organisert og annen alvorlig kriminalitet, previously ''Kriminalpolitisentralen''), commonly known as Kripos, is a special agency of the Norwegian Police Ser ...
(Norway)


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* * * * * * {{Authority control Criminal investigation Police units of Germany German words and phrases 1872 establishments in Germany 1945 disestablishments in Germany