The special unit Polizeiliche Schutzaufgaben Ausland der Bundespolizei (PSA BPOL) ("Police Protection Tasks Abroad of the Federal Police", formerly known as ''ASSIK'' for ''Arbeitsstab Schutzaufgaben in Krisengebieten'') is a specialized unit of the German Federal Police tasked with providing personal security for German diplomatic missions in conflict regions.

Background

The protection of German diplomatic missions is one of the tasks of the German Federal Police. In conflict, the diplomatic protection was carried out by the GSG9 with support of the Federal Criminal Police Office. In 2008, the Federal Ministry of the Interior tasked the Federal Police with reorganizing this form of protection in order to reduce the workload of the GSG9.

Organization

Due to the positive responses of the newly established ASSIK, the Federal Police decided to continue the unit as section 44 (''Referat 44''). * In January 2009 ASSIK is tasked with the protection of the embassy personnel in Kabul, Afghanistan * Since January 2010 ASSIK took over the protection of the embassy personnel in Bagdad, Iraq. In June 2012, section 44 was dissolved and the unit was attached under the command of the GSG9. Due to the continuously deteriorating security in various regions, PSA BPOL was tasked with an increasing number of deployments which include the embassies in

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the north and Oman to the northeast an ...

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Su ...

or short-term missions such as in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Med ...

during the revolution of 2011 and

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

during the

2010 earthquake Earthquakes in 2010 resulted in nearly 165,000 fatalities. Most of these were due to the 2010 Haiti earthquake, which caused an estimated 160,000 deaths, making it the 11th deadliest earthquake in recorded history. Other deadly quakes occurred i ...

. On August 1, 2017 the Department 11 (BPOLD 11) was formed as an umbrella organization for all specialized units of the Federal Police (i.e. GSG9 and aviation unit) which also included PSA.

Selection and Training

Any officer of the Federal German Police with at least 8 years of service may apply for the selection process. The selection process is followed by three months of specialized training which includes: * Personal security detail training * Defensive driving * Marksmanship * Combat casualty care Upon completion of the first sections of training a stronger emphasis is placed on missions in hazardous regions.

Deployments and cooperations

PSA officers deploy in rhythms of three months which are followed by periods of six months in Germany. The periods in Germany are used to train other PSA officers which are currently in pre-deployment training. One PSA officer was killed during his deployment in Sanaa (Yemen) in October 2013. PSA cooperates closely with other units with similar tasks. An a result of the cooperation with the Dutch BSB, the EU-funded project ''Black Griffin'' was established which enables several special units tasked with close protection duties to cross-train and to cooperate. Other participants include EKO Cobra from Austria or the

Mobile Security Deployments Mobile Security Deployments (MSD) is a small specialized tactical unit within the Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) of the United States Department of State. The MSD provides U.S. embassies and consulates with security support, protects the S ...

from the United States.

Equipment

HK USP The USP (''Universelle Selbstladepistole'' or "universal self-loading pistol") is a semi-automatic pistol developed in Germany by Heckler & Koch GmbH (H&K) as a replacement for the P7 series of handguns. History Design work on a new family of p ...

* HK G36C * HK P30 * HK 21 * Ballistic vestshttps://www.bundespolizei.de/Web/DE/04Aktuelles/05Kompakt/Bis-02-2019/2014/kompakt_2-14_file.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=3

References

External links

Official site

Recruitment site
{{Law enforcement in Germany GSG 9 Police units of Germany Non-military counterterrorist organizations Specialist law enforcement agencies of Germany Protective security units