Law enforcement in Germany is conducted by federal, state and municipal law enforcement agencies.
The Deutsche Volkspolizei, commonly known as the Volkspolizei or VoPo, was the national uniformed police force of the German Democratic Republic from 1945 to 1990. The Volkspolizei was a highly-centralized agency responsible for most civilian law enforcement in East Germany, maintaining 257,500 personnel at its peak. It worked closely along with the Stasi to maintain public order and identify threats to the regime.
Bundesgrenzschutz is the former name of the German Bundespolizei. Established on 16 March 1951 as a subordinate agency of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, the BGS originally was primarily focused on protecting the West German borders. During their early days, BGS units had military structures, training and equipment. The law enforcement officers legally had military combatant status until 1994. A major part of the early BGS personnel joined the newly founded German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) in 1956 and thus significantly contributed to West Germany's rearmament. The BGS was renamed to Bundespolizei on 1 July 2005. The change of name did not have any effect on the legal status or competencies of the agency, but rather reflects its transition to a multi-faceted police agency with control over border, railway and air security.
Auxiliary police, also called volunteer police, reserve police, assistant police, civil guards, or special police, are usually the part-time reserves of a regular police force. They may be unpaid volunteers or paid members of the police service with which they are affiliated.
Landespolizei is a term used to refer to the state police of any of the states of Germany.
The Federal Police is the national and principal federal law enforcement agency of the German Federal Government, being subordinate to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community. The Federal Police is primarily responsible for border protection and railroad and aviation/air security. In addition, the agency is responsible, among other tasks, for the protection of federal constitutional bodies. It provides the federal alert police and GSG 9 special police unit, which can also be used to support the federated states of Germany. Ordinary police forces, meanwhile, are under the administration of the individual German states (Bundesländer) and are known as the Landespolizei. In addition to the Federal Police, the Federal Criminal Police Office and the German Parliament Police exist as further police authorities at the federal level.
The Bereitschaftspolizei, BePo, are the support and rapid reaction units of Germany's police forces. They are composed of detachments from the Federal Police and the State Police forces of Germany.
Polizei is the German word for police. Police in Germany, Austria and Switzerland consist of different agencies. It might refer to:
Spezialeinsatzkommando are police tactical units of each of the 16 German State Police forces. Along with the Mobiles Einsatzkommando (MEK), Personenschutzkommando (bodyguards), and the Verhandlungsgruppe, they are part of the police Spezialeinheiten of each state.
Law enforcement in Germany is constitutionally vested solely with the states, which is one of the main features of the German political system.
The Bavarian State Police 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 other civilian employees.
The Wasserschutzpolizei is the river police that patrols the waterways, lakes and harbours of Germany around the clock. The WSP are part of the Landespolizei. The Federal Police maintains 16 patrol craft and helicopters are part of the Coast Guard (Küstenwache) and assigned to coastal BPOL stations. The watercraft include six offshore patrol vessels, e.g. those of the Bad Bramstedt class, as well as a number of fast inshore vessels and one tugboat.
Law enforcement in Austria is the responsibility of the Directorate General for Public Security, a subdivision of the Federal Ministry of the Interior located at Herrengasse 7 in Vienna. Over 20,000 police officers are on duty in the Federal Police at more than 1,000 police stations. On lakes and rivers the federal police has over 70 boats and other craft to act as the water police.
Polizei beim Deutschen Bundestag, also known as Parlamentspolizei or Bundestagspolizei, is a separate police force for the premises of the Bundestag in Berlin. The police force acts on behalf of the President of the Bundestag in their capacity as a law enforcement power for these premises.
Evidence and arrest units are special units of the German state police forces Landespolizei and the German Federal Police.
The Berlin Police is the Landespolizei force for the city-state of Berlin, Germany. Law enforcement in Germany is divided between federal and state (Land) agencies.
Berlin is a city-state and the capital of the Federal Republic of Germany.
The Police of Germany may refer to one of a number of German law enforcement agencies.
The Freiwilliger Polizeidienst are voluntary police services in Germany under different denominations, operated by non-professional forces. In most states, the forces are composed of trained volunteers, acting as an assisting and reserve force to the regular police force. Due to the fact, that the voluntary police services are state-run institutions, the equipment, training and tasks differ. Through patrols, it is supposed to ensure public order and safety.
Saxony State Police is a state law-enforcement agency in Saxony, Germany. It is subordinate to the Saxony State Interior Ministry. The Chief of State Police (Landespolizeipräsident) is Horst Kretzschmar and the political head is the Minister for the Interior in Saxony Roland Wöller (CDU).