Germany: police & security agencies
01 January 1991
Germany: police & security agencies
bacdoc July=1995
The information in this country file was first published in the
handbook "Statewatching the new Europe" (November 1993). It was
compiled by Peter Klerks and extracted from a longer report which
is available from: The Domestic Security Research Foundation, PO
Box 11178, 1001 GD, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Germany
356,910 km², 79,548,498 inhabitants
Long-form name: Federal Republic of Germany
Type: federal republic
Capital: Berlin; note--the shift from Bonn to Berlin will take
place over a period of years with Bonn retaining many
administrative functions
Administrative divisions: 16 states (länder, singular--land)
Constitution: 23 May 1949, provisional constitution known as
Basic Law
Legal system: civil law system with indigenous concepts; judicial
review of legislative acts in the Federal Constitutional Court;
has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
Executive branch: president, chancellor, Cabinet
Legislative branch: bicameral parliament (no official name for
the two chambers as a whole) consists of an upper chamber or
Federal Council (Bundesrat) and a lower chamber or Federal Diet
(Bundestag)
Judicial branch: Federal Constitutional Court
(Bundesverfassungsgericht)
I. POLICE STRUCTURES & forces
Total no. of police officers (1993, our estimate): 272,000. No.
of police officers per 100,000 inhabitants: 340 (EC av. 338).
1989 figures for FRG police forces (i.e. of the 11 `old'
Bundesländer): state police forces total 169,000 (24,000 Kripo)
plus 21,000 Bepo; Bundesgrenzschutz 21,000; Bundeskriminalamt
3,100. 1993 figures (our estimate for all 16 länder of the `new'
FRG): state police forces total ± 210,000 plus ± 25,000 Bepo;
Bundesgrenzschutz ± 33,000; Bundeskriminalamt ± 4,000. Women in
the police: The percentage of women in the German police forces
varies greatly between the different states with women occupying
between 7 to 20% of forces.
The differences between the police forces of the 16 Bundesländer
(states) can be almost as great as those between different
European countries. Although the main organisational features are
roughly similar, each state has its own police law and the
approach to public order problems can differ, depending upon
geographical factors, local tradition and political doctrine. The
police are accountable to their state Minister for the Interior
for that state, through the local Polizeipräsident in cities or
the Oberkreisdirektor in rural areas. Inter-state policy
coordination is primarily reached through the
Innenministerkonferenz, the Standing Conference of the 16
Ministers of the Interior. The criminal police are accountable
to the state prosecutor for investigative matters.
General organisation
In general, the Vollzugspolizei (executive police) can be divided
into the Schutzpolizei (known as Schupo: the uniformed
constabulary responsible for patrolling, traffic policing etc.),
the Kriminalpolizei (aka Kripo: CID) and the
Bereitschaftspolizei, Bepo: paramilitary `stand-by' force,
coordinated at the federal level to provide support when large
numbers of police are needed and which consists mainly of the 2nd
and 3rd year recruits who live in barracks (they number more than
25,000). Apart from the Bepo the division between the different
branches is far less strict in some states than in others. Police
strength per capita can range from 1:130 in Berlin to 1:400 in
some of the more rural states. The state police forces are funded
by the states except for the equipment of the federally
coordinated Bereitschaftspolizei. Most of the police officers
(over 85%) are unionised, the largest union is the Gewerkschaft
der Polizei.
Criminal Police
The general administration of the Kriminalpolizei is the
responsibility of the federal states. The Landeskriminalämter
(LKAs), the central criminal intelligence agencies in each of the
states, have evolved s