Law enforcement in Germany Law enforcement in Germany is constitutionally vested solely with the states, which is one of the main features of the German political system. Policing has always been a responsibility of the German states even after 1871 when the country was ...

is conducted by federal, state and municipal law enforcement agencies.

Federal law enforcement agencies

Federal Parliament (Bundestag)

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Polizei beim Deutschen Bundestag Polizei beim Deutschen Bundestag ( en, Police at the German Bundestag), also known as Parlamentspolizei or Bundestagspolizei, is a separate police force for the premises of the Bundestag (the German parliament's lower house) in Berlin. The police ...

(Polizei DBT):'' Federal Parliament Police, responsible for the protection of the premises of the Bundestag in Berlin. In order to uphold the independence of the legislative power from the executive, this police force is responsible, not to the Minister of the Interior, but to the President of the Bundestag.

Federal Ministry of Defence The Federal Ministry of Defence (german: Bundesministerium der Verteidigung, ), abbreviated BMVg, is a top-level federal agency, headed by the Federal Minister of Defence as a member of the Cabinet of Germany. The ministry is headquartered at ...

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Feldjäger The ''Feldjäger'' () are Germany's military police. The term ''Feldjäger'', literally meaning field huntsmen (military), huntsmen or field Jäger (military), Jäger, has a long tradition and dates back to the mid-17th century. Hi ...

truppe:'' Military Police of the Federal Defense Force

Federal Ministry of Finance

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Bundeszollverwaltung The Bundeszollverwaltung (Federal Customs Service) is the customs service of the Federal Republic of Germany. It is also the executive and fiscal administrative unit of the federal government and part of the Federal Ministry of Finance. It was ...

:'' Federal Customs Service **''

Zollkriminalamt The German Customs Investigation Bureau in Cologne (german: Zollkriminalamt, ZKA) and its investigation offices are federal agencies that fall under the German Finance Ministry. The ZKA coordinates customs investigations nationwide in particu ...

(ZKA):'' Customs Investigation Bureau ***'' ZUZ (Zentrale Unterstützungsgruppe Zoll):'' Customs

SWAT In the United States, a SWAT team (special weapons and tactics, originally special weapons assault team) is a police tactical unit that uses specialized or military equipment and tactics. Although they were first created in the 1960s to ...

Unit

Federal Ministry of the Interior An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

*'' Bundeskriminalamt (BKA):'' Federal Criminal Office (comparable role to the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...

) **'' Missions Abroad and Special Operations unit (BKA ASE):'' Close protection detail in hazardous areas *'' Bundespolizei (BPOL):'' Federal Police **''

Bereitschaftspolizei The ''Bereitschaftspolizei'' (literally 'Readiness Police'/On-Call Police (Reserve); effectively riot police) are the support and rapid reaction units of Germany's police forces. They are composed of detachments from the Federal Police and th ...

(BePo):'' Riot Police Branch of Federal Police ***'' BFE (Beweissicherungs- und Festnahmeeinheit):'' Federal Evidence Securing and Arrests Unit ***'' BFE+ (Beweissicherungs- und Festnahmeeinheit plus):'' Federal Evidence Securing and Arrests Unit with elevated powers **'' Federal Police Directorate 11 (Bundespolizeidirektion 11):'' Joint command of BPOL units with special tasks **''Bundespolizei-Fliegerstaffel:'' Federal Police Air Group **''

GSG 9 , formerly (), is the police tactical unit of the German Federal Police ''(Bundespolizei (Germany), Bundespolizei)''. The state police (''Landespolizei'') maintain their own tactical units known as the ''Special Deployment Commando, Spezialein ...

(GSG 9 der Bundespolizei):'' Federal Police Special Forces Group **''MFE (Mobile Fahndungseinheit):'' Special Unit for Covered (Individual and Technical) Surveillance **'' Polizeiliche Schutzaufgaben Ausland (PSA BPOL):'' Protection force for the security of German diplomatic missions

State law enforcement agencies

Structure

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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 ...

:'' State Police **''

Autobahnpolizei is the term in Germany for the highway patrol. Heavy traffic and high-speed accidents resulted in the creation of special police units to patrol the expressways known as ''Autobahnen''. Organisation Although the autobahns are federal roads, th ...

:'' Highway Patrol of State Police **'' Bayerische Grenzpolizei (GrePo)'': border police, exclusively of the state of

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

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(BePo):'' Riot Police Branch of State Police ***'' BFE (Beweissicherungs- und Festnahmeeinheit):'' State Police Special Detention Unit **''

Kriminalpolizei ''Kriminalpolizei'' (, "criminal police") is the standard term for the criminal investigation agency within the police forces of Germany, Austria, and the German-speaking cantons of Switzerland. In Nazi Germany, the Kripo was the criminal polic ...

(KriPo):'' Detective Branch of State Police **''MEK (Mobiles Einsatzkommando):'' Special Unit for Surveillance and Detention **''

Schutzpolizei The ''Schutzpolizei'' (), or ''Schupo'' () for short, is a uniform-wearing branch of the '' Landespolizei'', the state (''Land'') level police of the states of Germany. ''Schutzpolizei'' literally means security or protection police, but it is ...

(SchuPo):'' Uniformed Branch of State Police **'' SEK (Spezialeinsatzkommando):''

unit of State Police **''Wachpolizei (WaPol):'' Branch of State Police for the security of state government buildings or diplomatic facilities, only in the states of

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 constitue ...

and

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major histor ...

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Wasserschutzpolizei The ''Wasserschutzpolizei'' (WSP - literally translated "Water Protection Police" in German) is the river police that patrols the waterways, lakes and harbours of Germany around the clock. The WSP are part of the '' Landespolizei'' (State Po ...

(WSP):'' River Branch of State Police *''

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 ...

(LKA):'' ("State Criminal Office") State Bureau of Investigation, in some states subordinate to the state's police force **''MEK (Mobiles Einsatzkommando):'' most LKAs employ an MEK of their own, operating independently of the regular police MEK *'' Justiz:'' Corrections Service

Auxiliary state police forces

* ''Freiwilliger Polizeidienst'' (Voluntary Police Service): auxiliary police force in the states of

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

and

* ''Sicherheitspartner'' (Security Partner): auxiliary police force in the state of

Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a states of Germany, state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an ar ...

* ''Sicherheitswacht'' (Security Watch): auxiliary police force in the states of

and

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

List of the state police forces

Baden-Württemberg Police Baden-Württemberg Police is a state law-enforcement agency in Germany. It numbers approximately 25,000 police officers and 7,000 civilian employees. The four regional police authorities (called ''Landespolizeidirektionen'' in BW) are headquart ...

Bavarian State Police The Bavarian State Police (german: Bayerische Staatliche Polizei) is the state police force of the German state of Bavaria under the umbrella of the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior. It has approximately 33,500 armed officers and roughly 8,500 ot ...

* Berlin Police * Brandenburg Police *

Bremen Police The Bremen State Police (German: Polizei Bremen) is the state police force of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. It employs around 2,500 officers. The agency is headed by police chief (German: Polizeipräsident) Lutz Müller; the political head i ...

Hamburg Police The Hamburg Police (german: Hamburger Polizei or ) is the German Landespolizei force for the city-state of Hamburg. Law enforcement in Germany is divided between federal and state (Land) agencies. A precursor to the agency, the ''Polizei-Behörd ...

Hesse State Police The Hessen State Police ( German: ''Hessische Polizei'') numbers approximately 15,500 police officers and 2,500 civilian employees. Organisation The seven regional police authorities are headquartered in Kassel (Nordhessen), Giessen (Mitt ...

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North Rhine-Westphalia Police The North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) State Police Force is the largest of the sixteen German state police forces with 50,000 personnel. Organisation Constabularies NRW has 47 police constabularies. The 18 urban constabularies are headed by a Pres ...

Rhineland-Palatinate Police The Rhineland-Palatinate State Police is the state police ('' Landespolizei'') of the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate and numbers ca. 9,000 police officers. The five regional police authorities are headquartered in Koblenz, Trier, Main ...

Saarland Police Saarland Police (German: ''Landespolizei Saarland)'' is a state law-enforcement agency in Saarland, Germany. It is subordinated to the Saar Ministry of the Interior, Urban Development and Sports. Responsibilities The Police in Saarland are res ...

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Schleswig-Holstein Police Schleswig-Holstein Police (German: ''Landespolizei Schleswig-Holstein)'' is a state law-enforcement agency in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is subordinated to the Schleswig-Holstein Ministry of the Interior, Municipal Affairs, Housing and Sport ...

Municipal law enforcement agencies

Municipal order enforcement agencies

*''Kommunaler Ordnungsdienst (KOD):'' Municipal law enforcement, different regulations by state and local laws *''Ordnungsamt (OA):'' "municipal order agency", most common denomination *''Städtischer Ordnungsdienst:'' "Municipal Enforcement Service"

Municipal police forces

*''Polizeibehörde:'' local "Police Authority" in several states *''Gemeindevollzugsdienst (GVD):'' "Municipal Code Enforcement Service" in the state of

*''Kommunalpolizei or Stadtpolizei:'' "Community Police" or "City Police" in cities of the state of

References

{{Lists of law enforcement agencies by country Law enforcement in Germany

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 betwe ...