State Criminal Police Office Berlin

The Berlin Criminal Police Agency (LKA) is a criminal investigation unit and the central coordinating body of the Police of the State of Berlin . It is a dependent branch of the unified state police authority Berlin Police . The LKA, which was founded in 1994, has been based in Berlin-Tempelhof at Tempelhofer Damm 12 in the immediate vicinity of the Airlift Square since 1996 .

The Berlin LKA, headed by Christian Steiof since 2011 , is, in contrast to most of the German state criminal police offices , which are usually higher regional authorities and only support investigations in special cases, investigate directly and with sole responsibility.

The State Criminal Police Office is responsible for the conduct of investigations and the guideline competence in the fight against crime as well as crime prevention . In addition, the three administrative authorities, the assembly authority, the weapons authority and the lower hunting authority, are attached to the state protection department.

organization

Entrance area

The large authority acting as the central office for the fight against crime in Berlin with around 3500 employees consists of the staff, eight departments and a central office:

Department 1 (LKA 1): Responsibility: Offenses against humans

Department 2 (LKA 2): Fraud

Department 3 (LKA 3): White-collar crime , corruption , environmental / consumer protection offenses, police offenses

Department 4 (LKA 4): Organized crime , gangs and qualified property crime , drug offenses

Department 5 (LKA 5): Police state security (including regulatory state security)

Department 6 (LKA 6): Operational services (including the special units : Special Operations Command [SEK], and Mobile Operations Command [MEK])

Department 7 (LKA 7): Investigation support

Department 8 (LKA 8): Islamist extremism and terrorism

Kriminaltechnisches Institut (LKA KTI): Competence center for forensic technology

The departments are divided into divisions, to which commissariats belong.

There is also the Central Office for Prevention (LKA Präv) and a staff (LKA St).

management

Christian Steiof has been the head of the Berlin State Criminal Police Office since May 1, 2011 . His predecessor was Peter-Michael Haeberer , who was appointed director with effect from February 13, 2002. Haeberer was provisional head of the LKA as early as September 2001, after Hans-Ulrich Voss, who was in office from August 1, 1998, retired prematurely for health reasons. The then Police Vice President Dieter Schenk headed the LKA from its founding in 1994 until his retirement at the end of July 1998.

criticism

V-man with NSU connection

The State Security Department 5 (LKA 5) of the State Criminal Police Office employed the undercover agent Thomas S., who is suspected of having procured explosives for the NSU terror trio , for more than ten years. The Federal Criminal Police Office informed the LKA Berlin in February 2012 that an investigation had been initiated against this undercover agent. The LKA Berlin, however, kept the employment relationship secret from the BKA for six weeks. Only when the BKA asked the LKA specifically about Thomas S. was the employment relationship admitted.

A total of five tips from undercover agent Thomas S. about the NSU terror trio were not forwarded to the LKA Thuringia , although the trio had been wanted in a wanted list since 1998.

Case of Anis Amri

In connection with the processing of the breakdowns or the failure of investigations against Anis Amri before the attack he carried out on the Berlin Christmas market at the Memorial Church in December 2016, alleged cover-up attempts were made known to the LKA Berlin, see Anis Amri #Berlin - cover-up attempts .

Criminal Police Responsibilities

In addition to the LKA, each of the five local Berlin police departments has a department for combating crime (K), in which criminal police officers investigate. In practice, the responsibilities may overlap. Although the responsibilities are formally precisely regulated, the limits sometimes turn out to be fluid within the scope of the respective scope of discretion. The LKA investigates serious robbery offenses, while the local K units take on simple robbery. Dual responsibilities are also criticized in the fight against burglary and drug trafficking.