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General Information
Admission to the OSCE: 25 June 1973
OSCE Chairmanship in 1999
Policing overview: In the Federal Republic of Germany
the responsibility for maintenance of public security and order is
divided between the 16 federal states (Bundeslaender) and the Republic.
The main policing bodies are the Federal Police (Bundespolizei), the
State Police (Laenderpolizei) and the Federal Criminal Police Office
(Bundeskriminalamt).
Federal Police | State Police | Federal Criminal Police Office | Training Academy for Senior Police | Criminal Justice System | Links
Federal Police
1. General information
2. Functions and missions
3. Structure and organization
4. Staff data
5. Education / Training
1. General information
The Federal Police (Bundespolizei or BPOL) is subordinate to
the Ministry of the Interior and carries out extensive and
manifold police duties based on a modern police law (Federal Police
Act) and numerous other laws. Policing services were re-organized in
the year 1998, and re-titled Federal Police (Bundespolizei, BPOL) on
July 1st, 2005 (previously called Federal Border Guards –
Bundesgrenzschutz or BGS). The BPOL closely collaborates within the
existing security networks on the basis of security co-operation and
partnerships with the police services of the federal states, other
security authorities of the federation and the federal states, as well
as with foreign border authorities.
2. Functions and missions
The main functions of the Federal Police are to:
- ensure border security, including coast guard services;
- protect
federal buildings and foreign embassies in the capital of Berlin and
the former capital of Bonn, as well as the two highest German courts:
the Federal Constitutional Court and the Federal High Court in
Karlsruhe; - provide the federal government’s mobile response force for internal security events;
- ensure security at international airports and on the German railways;
- provide counter-terrorism forces (GSG9), and
- serve as air (or sky) marshals.
The Federal Police can also be used to reinforce the state police if
requested to do so by a state government. They conduct criminal
investigations only within their sphere of jurisdiction; otherwise,
cases are referred to the appropriate state police service or to the
national criminal investigative agency, the Federal Criminal Police
Office (Bundeskriminalamt).
3. Structure and organization
The five Federal Police Regional Headquarters in Bad
Bramstedt, Berlin, Fuldatal, Munich, and Sankt Augustin are directly
subordinate to the Ministry of the Interior as regionally competent
federal intermediate authorities. Other authorities, with central
duties, are the Federal Police Central Bureau, located in Koblenz, and
the Federal Police Academy, located in Lübeck.
Moreover, as federal sub-authorities under the direction of the federal
police headquarters, a total of 19 police district offices are set up
all over the country, including the Federal Police Sea, the maritime
component at the Federal Police Headquarters North.
4. Staff data
As of 2006, the total number of staff numbered about 40,000 , of whom 30,000 were fully trained police officers:
- 21,000 provide border, railway and aviation security;
- 6,000 serve in the mobile units as standby police;
-
3,000
serve in special units (Aviation Service, GSG 9, Central Office for
Information and Communication) and other organizations.
Some 6,800 civil servants perform administrative and support
services while about 2,000 serve in the Individual Service which
handles border/immigration matters and flight passenger checks, similar
to US Immigration or US Customs inspectors.
5. Education / Training
The Federal Police Academy in Lübeck is the central
instruction and education institution of the Federal Police. Moreover,
it supports the five Federal Police Basic and Advanced Training Centres
of the respective regional headquarters in their decentralized
instruction and continued training.
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Federal Police | State Police | Federal Criminal Police Office | Training Academy for Senior Police | Criminal Justice System | Links
State Police
1. General information
2. Structure and organization
1. General information
The federation is divided into 16 federal states (Laender),
each with its own state police, and each organized differently, since
police duties fall within the jurisdiction of the federal states as
laid down in Germany’s Constitution.
2. Structure and organization
For the execution of police duties, the state police services
are divided up basically into the following areas, which are more or
less the same in all states:
-
The State Criminal Police Office
(Landeskriminalamt) deals with issues of state security, unlawful
trafficking in firearms and explosives; serious cases of illegal drug
trafficking, organized crime, money laundering, white-collar crime, and
stolen works of art. It serves as a central agency for criminal
investigation analysis, data processing, special training, and
co-ordination of investigations; - The State Police Service prevents and prosecutes petty crime and serves as traffic police;
-
The
Emergency Police / Stand-by Police is deployed as an entire unit in
response to requests for general support and to assist the Federal
Criminal Police Office on the occasion of State visits, mass
demonstrations, major sporting events, international fairs, and natural
disasters; -
The Waterways
Police control traffic on the country’s domestic waterways, monitoring
in particular the transport of hazardous material and/or dangerous
goods; -
The Air Wings
are aerial units deployed for tasks such as traffic surveillance.
They also support local police offices in crime prevention and
suppression; -
The Special
Weapons and Tactics Units (Sondereinsatzkommandos) and Mobile
Surveillance Units (Mobile Einsatzkommandos) are organized and managed
differently in each of the individual federal states, but, in
general, they are used to deal with cases of very serious crime or for
special surveillance.
For further information on the organization of the 16 state police services, please refer to the Links section below.
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Federal Criminal Police Office
1. General information
2. Functions and missions
3. Structure and organization
4. Staff data
5. Education / Training
1. General information
The Federal Criminal Police Office (Bundeskriminalamt or BKA)
is the central office for co-operation between the federation and the
federal states in all criminal police matters. It also serves as the
central office for police information and intelligence, and for the
criminal police, and constitutes the National Central Bureau of
the Federal Republic of Germany for the International Criminal Police
Organisation (ICPO-Interpol).
2. Functions and missions
The responsibilities of the Federal Criminal Police Office include:
-
Official relations of the police
forces of both levels – federal and state – with foreign police and
justice authorities, as well as with other relevant public bodies; -
Assistance
to federal and state police forces to prevent and prosecute criminal
offences of inter-regional or international importance, or of
considerable significance; - Police tasks related to criminal prosecution;
- Protection of members of constitutional organs;
- Protection of witnesses, their families or close associates.
3. Structure and organization
Since January 2005, the Federal Criminal Police Office
(Bundeskriminalamt or BKA) has been re-organized into nine divisions
(i.e International Co-ordination, State Security, Serious and
Organized Crime, Protection Division, Central CID Services, Institute
of Law Enforcement Studies and Training, Forensic Science
Institute, Information Technology, and Central and Administrative
Affairs). It is headed by a President assisted by two Vice Presidents.
4. Staff data
Over 5,500 members of staff work in the Federal Criminal
Police Office at the three different locations – Wiesbaden, Berlin, and
Meckenheim near Bonn. Approximately 50% of them are fully trained
criminal police officers, while the rest are drawn from 70 different
occupational groups. One third are civil servants, 11 % are
administrative and ‘other’ officers, and 6 % are manual labourers. The
percentage of women working for the Federal Criminal Police Office is
34.8 %.
5. Education / Training
Training of BKA criminal police officers is provided at the
Federal College of Public Administration. The Federal Criminal Police
Office also offers apprenticeships in ten different vocations.
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Federal Police | State Police | Federal Criminal Police Office | Training Academy for Senior Police | Criminal Justice System | Links
Training Academy for Senior Police
Training of candidates for senior posts
in the uniformed and criminal police of the 16 federal states as well
as the federation is provided by the Training Academy for Senior Police
(Polizei-Fuehrungsakademie, PFA) in Muenster (see Attachments section
for a summary on the functions and missions of the PFA). This Academy
is in the process of being transformed into the German Police
University (Deutsche Hochschule der Polizei) in 2006, and a preliminary
website can be visited from the Links section.
Attachments
Training Academy for Senior Police – Summary/Résumé [English] (40.50 Kb)
Training Academy for Senior Police – Summary/Résumé [English] http://polis.osce.org/countries/view?item_id=17&attach_id=174
An English summary as well as a French résumé on the missions of the
Polizei-Fuehrungsakademie (PFA) in Muenster (Source: Official website
of the PFA)
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Criminal Justice System
1. General information
2. Prosecution
1. General information
The German courts are largely specialized and fall into five categories:
-
Courts of Record: responsible for
criminal matters, civil cases and voluntary jurisdiction, they are
organized into four levels: the local courts (Amtsgerichte), regional
courts (Landgerichte), higher regional courts (Oberlandesgerichte) and
the Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof). - Labour courts – local, state and federal
- Administrative courts – local, state and federal
- Social courts – local, state and federal
- Fiscal courts – state and federal
The Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) which is
the country‘s supreme court, is separate from the five branches of
jurisdiction.
2. Prosecution
The public prosecutor‘s offices are criminal justice bodies of
independent responsibilities vis-a-vis the courts and attached to the
judiciary. In the case of the Federal Court of Justice, the office of
prosecutor is exercised by the Federal Prosecutor General
(Generalbundesanwalt), in the case of a higher regional court, by a
Prosecutor General, and in the case of a regional court, by a Senior
Prosecutor-in-Charge, together with their respective staff.
The public prosecutors are, for the most part, concerned with criminal
proceedings. It is their responsibility to establish the facts when a
person is suspected of having committed a crime. They must decide
whether to discontinue the proceedings or to indict the suspect. In
court proceedings, they are the prosecuting counsels. Unlike judges,
public prosecutors are civil servants. As of June 1999, there were
approximately 5.200 public prosecutors in Germany.
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Federal Police | State Police | Federal Criminal Police Office | Training Academy for Senior Police | Criminal Justice System | Links
Links
Ministry of the Interior – Germany
Ministry of the Interior – Germany http://www.bmi.bund.de/
Official website of the Ministry of the Interior, Germany
Federal Police – Germany
Federal Police – Germany http://www.bundespolizei.de/
Official website of the German Federal Police (Bundespolizei)
State Police – Germany
State Police – Germany http://www.polizei.de/
Official website with links to the State Police of the 16 German federal states (Laender)
Federal Criminal Police Office – Germany
Federal Criminal Police Office – Germany http://www.bka.de/
Official website of the German Federal Criminal Police Office (Bundeskriminalamt)
Police University of Muenster – Germany
Police University of Muenster – Germany http://www.dhpol.de/index.html
Official website of the Police University (Deutsche Hochschule der
Polizei) in Muenster being established in 2006 to replace
Polizei-Fuehrungsakademie (PFA)
Federal Police Academy – Luebeck, Germany
Federal Police Academy – Luebeck, Germany http://www.bundespolizei.de/nn_484498/DE/BPOL__Akademie/bpolak__node.html__nnn=true
Official website of the Federal Police Academy (Bundespolizeiakademie) in Luebeck
Training Academy for Senior Police – Germany
Training Academy for Senior Police – Germany http://www.pfa.nrw.de/l/sv/internet_neu/internet_index.htm
Official website of the Polizei-Fuehrungsakademie (PFA) in Muenster, Germany
OSCE/ ODIHR Legislationline – Germany
OSCE/ ODIHR Legislationline – Germany http://www.legislationline.org/?tid=155&jid=21&less=true
Legislationline is a gratis internet-based legislative database
published and maintained by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions
and Human Rights (ODIHR).
