''Stadtpolizei'' were

municipal police Municipal police, city police, or local police are law enforcement agencies that are under the control of local government. This includes the municipal government, where it is the smallest administrative subdivision. They receive funding ...

forces of some

cities A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

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 ...

. The term ''Stadtpolizei'' is still used in some German states to denote local order enforcement offices of municipal authorities with limited police powers.

History

After 1945, there were many local and city police forces, such as the Munich Police Force, throughout Germany. Small towns and rural areas that could not or did not want to afford their own police force were covered by the ''Landpolizei'' which was a rural police force organised by the state government. This decentralised system was forced by the US/British-Military Governments after World War II. However, it was not effective in fighting the rise of

organised crime Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...

and

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

( Baader-Meinhof/RAF). So the local and city police forces were merged with the rural gendarmeries (German: ''Landpolizei'', ''Landjägerei'' or ''Gendarmerie'') to form the state police forces (German: '' Landespolizei'') in every single state, during the major reorganisation of the German police in the mid-seventies. Wappen Stadtpolizei Frankfurt

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 ...

, municipalities with a population of at least 5,000 were allowed to have their own police forces. A total of 151 city police forces existed in Bavaria. The city police forces, including the Munich city police, were consolidated into

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 o ...

in 1975.

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 ...

, cities with population at least 75,000 were allowed to have their own municipal police forces. In 1968, the population requirement was increased to 250,000, thus restricting it to the three largest cities of the state - Stuttgart,

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's ...

and

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...

. Mannheim and Karlsruhe police forces were consolidated into the

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 ...

in 1972, and Stuttgart in 1973.

Municipal law enforcement

City police forces

In few states however (for example Bremen,

Saarland The Saarland (, ; french: Sarre ) is a state of Germany in the south west of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and ...

, Baden-Württemberg) municipal police officers do have the same rights, powers and obligations like their counterparts in the state police. This is particularly the case in the state of Baden-Württemberg. Municipal Police Officers in Baden-Württemberg can use force, make an arrest, regulate traffic, ask for identification, search a person, investigate misdemeanours and contravention for the state prosecutor among others. The tasks of a municipal police force depends on the size of the municipality's territory and the number of inhabitants in which it is operating. The so-called "police authority" (German: ''Polizeibehörde'') of a town or city can transfer more tasks and responsibilities to its police force, only if approved from the regional government (Regierungspräsidium). In the state of

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

, communities are allowed to implement and maintain a city or community police force (German: ''Stadtpolizei'' or ''Kommunalpolizei'') for general law enforcement duties. Kommunalpolizei Darmstadt01

Municipal order enforcement

Stadt Fulda - Ordnungsamt, Land Rover Freelander

Currently, many cities in Germany have established local order enforcement offices. Depending on each state's laws, under different terms like ''Ordnungsamt'' (order enforcement office), ''Kommunaler Ordnungsdienst'' (municipal order enforcement service), ''Städtischer Ordnungsdienst'' (city order enforcement service), ''Gemeindevollzugsdienst'' (municipal code enforcement office). These city employees mainly wear police-like uniforms but some wear labelled jackets and plain clothes. They are the municipal administration's eyes and ears on the street. Depending on each state's laws, these local employees could be armed or unarmed. Mostly they are charged with monitoring municipal by-laws and laws that fall under the responsibility of municipalities, which include monitoring the conduct of shop owners, sanitation inspections, veterinary inspections and minor infractions and misdemeanors such as illegal parking,

litter Litter consists of waste products that have been discarded incorrectly, without consent, at an unsuitable location. Litter can also be used as a verb; to litter means to drop and leave objects, often man-made, such as aluminum cans, paper cups ...

ing, state and local dog regulations etc. They usually only hand out warnings and fines and can only perform a

citizen's arrest A citizen's arrest is an arrest made by a private citizen – that is, a person who is not acting as a sworn law-enforcement official. In common law jurisdictions, the practice dates back to medieval England and the English common law, in which ...

as any other citizen can. If they see any major crimes they are required to call the state police.

References

External links