Police (Germany)

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GermanyGermany Police of the Federal Republic of Germany
- Police -
State level Federal or state authority in Germany
Supervisory authority (s) Federal and state interior ministries
Website https://www.polizei.de/
Hamburg police officer with the official title of Police Chief Master with official allowance
The green and white patrol cars built up to 2000 ...
... have been replaced by silver-green ...
... and now replaced by blue-silver vehicles in all federal states ...
... which, since 2013, have also had neon yellow contrast stickers in some state police forces.

The German police consists of the regional and federal state police authorities ( Federal Police , Federal Criminal Police Office , police at the German Bundestag ). The task is to maintain internal security . To this end, the police have to avert dangers to public safety and, in some cases, to public order ( crime prevention ) through police directives and other measures, and in some German states also through police ordinances . The police also investigate criminal and administrative offenses ( repression ), carrying out all kinds of investigations and issuing all non-delaying orders in order to prevent the matter from being darkened. In addition, the police protect private rights in the event that judicial protection cannot be obtained in good time and otherwise the implementation of the law would be thwarted or made significantly more difficult, and performs other tasks incumbent on them by law.

The police represent the legal system as an executive in their actions .

Development of the police concept

The term police has undergone constant change in its historical development, which has ultimately led to its current narrowing. Policeman is a generic term for certain public officials of the state or country.

The word police comes from the Greek "politeia", by which the Greeks understood the entire secular order of the Greek city-state ( polis ). Following on from this, "Polizey" was the orderly state of the state and the necessary measures of secular rule in the late Middle Ages. The term "Polizey" encompassed the entire state administration at that time.

The definition of the police was narrowed in the course of the 17th and 18th centuries when the absolutist sovereign spun off the judiciary, finance and army administration from the police, whereby the five classic administrative branches of interior, exterior, justice, army and financial administration emerged. Since the absolute monarch felt responsible in all areas for the welfare of the general public and the citizens in the age of absolutism, the police under him were no longer limited to the maintenance of order, but included the entire care of the welfare . The sovereign was due to its unrestricted sovereignty unlimited intervene in the legal sphere of his subjects and the order in his view, necessary security measures and for the care of welfare.

This absolute state reform was opposed to the Enlightenment philosophy of the 18th century. She raised demands for equality between people ( Jean-Jacques Rousseau ), for the recognition of natural human rights and for the monarch to be bound by law and order ( Thomas Hobbes , John Locke ) and for the principle of the separation of powers to be implemented ( Montesquieu ).

From these views a changed, two-pronged police concept arose. A distinction was made between activities aimed at averting danger (security police) and activities aimed at ensuring personal development opportunities and the creation of the necessary facilities (e.g. schools, hospitals) (welfare police).

The doctrine of the two-pronged police concept became law in Prussia through the General Land Law of 1794. According to this, the task of the police was to “take the necessary steps to maintain public peace, security and order, and to ward off the dangers that might be imminent for the public or individual members of the public” ( Section 10 II 17 ALR ). However, the law did not reflect the legal status that actually prevailed at the time. Rather, until the middle of the 19th century, welfare work was assigned to the police by law.

In the southern German states, police law developed differently. The starting point was not general clauses under police law, but armed police violations and authorizations for the enactment of armed police ordinances and police penalties (so-called state penal and ordinance laws) standardized in police penal codes.

Police in the Empire 1871–1918

Portal of a police station in the Free and Hanseatic City of Lübeck (1902)
Grand Ducal Oldenburg gendarme in official suit (center). On the right Grand Duke Friedrich August. Photo from May 21, 1914 Rodenkirchen, Brake Office, today the Wesermarsch district

According to Bismarck's Imperial Constitution , the police were basically a matter for the federal states, insofar as the prevention of danger was concerned (exception, e.g., Aliens Police as a Reich matter ). However, the Reich had to assign the competence of the police as an institution to investigate criminal tasks (Art. 4 No. 13 of the Constitution). This formalized the definition of the police. The different police laws of the states continued to apply. The police forces with their guards remained completely part of the administration of the states, practically exclusively in the form of gendarmerie .

In Prussia, the police were further developed on the basis of § 10 II 17 ALR (preventive general clause) through the pioneering case law of the Prussian Higher Administrative Court (PrOVG) . The police limited its jurisprudence in the so-called Kreuzberg knowledge to averting danger.

The decisive factor was the case law of the PrOVG with regard to the proportionality of police intervention (PrOVG E 13, 426 [427f.]). In this judgment the principle ius ad finem dat ius ad media (“The right to the result gives the right to the means”) was broken. From then on it was no longer possible to deduce the means from the end, but rather the means had to be suitable, necessary and reasonable for the person concerned to achieve the end.

Because of the specialization of modern life, special laws were also created, the execution of which was entrusted to special authorities (special police) (for example building, foreign, health, port, fishing police). As a result of this development, state tasks performed by state police authorities have also been transferred to municipal police administrations.

The introduction of the Reich Justice Laws in 1878 also had a consolidating effect. The police forces of the federal states were given the task of investigating criminal acts throughout the Reich through Section 163 of the Code of Criminal Procedure ( principle of legality ). They made investigations and, in order to prevent the matter from being darkened, issued orders that could not be postponed (repressive general clause). Furthermore, the Courts Constitution Act appointed, among other things, certain ranks of the police as auxiliary officers of the public prosecutor's office . In this capacity, the police could, in urgent cases, take measures otherwise reserved for the judge or the public prosecutor (e.g. search of the apartment, other rooms, the person or their property for the purpose of apprehending a criminal suspect by an auxiliary officer of the public prosecutor's office). With the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Reich has largely conclusively regulated repressive police action (exception: police penalties in the event of violations).

In 1903 Henriette Arendt was employed in Stuttgart as Germany's first female police officer.

Police askari in German East Africa around 1910

In the German colonies of Togo , Cameroon , German South West Africa , German East Africa and the South Sea regions , colonial police existed from around 1890 to 1914/15 , which were usually composed of African police officers and NCOs and German or European officers and NCOs. In German East Africa, the African police officers were called Askaris . The Imperial State Police for South West Africa, founded in 1907, held a special position, which consisted almost exclusively of European NCOs and officers and in which, for the first time in German police history, the functions of the gendarmerie and local police were combined. In 1914 these police troops had a total strength of approx. 5000 men. In Kiautschou there was a special Chinese police that was only responsible for the Chinese population. In the course of the First World War , these police units were disbanded.

Police in the Weimar Republic 1918–1933

Police officers in Berlin during the May riots in 1929

Article 9, Paragraph 2 of the Weimar Constitution allowed the Reich to “enforce” the police system (ie to raise it to the federal level) if there was a need for uniform regulation. However, this was only used under the Nazi regime , so that the police, insofar as they took preventive action, remained a state matter. In Prussia , the police were reorganized after the First World War by the administrative lawyer and later State Secretary Wilhelm Abegg . Abegg is therefore considered to be the founder of the modern German police force.

The motto "The police - your friend and helper" was established by the Prussian Interior Minister Albert Grzesinski in 1926 at the latest , who in the foreword of a book to the Berlin Police Exhibition in 1926 spread the motto for the police to be "a friend, helper and comrade of the population." Carl Severing (resigned October 6, 1926) had worked towards a republican police ethos , which is now part of the self-image of the German police force. The expression “friend and helper” is often associated with Heinrich Himmler , who from 1936 was Reichsführer SS and chief of the German police . In many places it is therefore more or less undeservedly seen as discredited. Himmler had written in the foreword in the book Die Polizei - once different (1937) by Helmuth Koschorke : “Our greatest goal is to be seen as a trustworthy friend and helper by the criminal as much as by the German national comrade!” The maxim was true but not hold, as the reality was different. It no longer serves as a police slogan .

In Germany there were the municipal police in large cities (including the criminal police ), the gendarmes delegated to cities, municipalities and rural districts, who historically was seen as a member of the military under the Prussian civil service law, and the state police.

The Prussian Police Administration Act (PrPVG) of June 1, 1931, paved the way for the further development of police law. It mainly comprised preventive tasks for the police; Only the police penalties for violations were repressive. The creation of the PrPVG was influenced by Bill Drews , who from May 1919 became the Prussian state commissioner for administrative reform. From 1928, work on the draft law was intensified. Christian Kerstiens and Robert Kempner , the responsible officers in the Prussian Ministry of the Interior, followed up on Drew's preparatory work and implemented the content-related components and the structural reforms already implemented in the Prussian police through this law. For Prussia, the restriction of the police to averting danger was reformulated by the preventive police general clause in Section 14 of the Prussian Police Administration Act. It is thus the forerunner of today's general clause. Paragraph 1 reads: "Within the framework of the applicable laws, the police authorities must take the necessary measures according to their dutiful discretion to avert dangers to the general public or individuals that threaten public safety or order." Paragraph 2 stipulates the following: “In addition, the police authorities have to perform those tasks that are specifically assigned to them by law.” This provision refers in particular to the exercise of criminal procedural responsibilities by the police authorities.

The PrPVG also received authorization bases for preventive police regulations from the interior minister and the specialist ministers in consultation with the interior minister, the chief presidents, the Berlin police president, the regional presidents, the district administrators and, in cities with more than 5,000 inhabitants, also the local police authority (local police officer). In the repressive area, the PrPVG regulated the area of ​​police penalties left open by the StPO for violations.

Exemplary under the rule of law, the PrPVG also contained an organizational part and provisions on the local and factual jurisdiction of the individual police authorities, provisions on the enforcement of police orders and ordinances and a law on police liability.

Police under National Socialism 1933–1945

Policeman with winter coat in Berlin, 1937
Bobby and auxiliary policeman (SA) in the general election in March 1933 in Berlin

In the Weimar Republic , the tasks of the political police lay with departments of the police headquarters and the state criminal police offices and were thus subject to the instructions of the state interior ministers and their subordinate agencies. During the Weimar Republic, Department IA of the Berlin Police Headquarters (political police and counter-espionage ) developed into a nationwide center for political affairs. After the Nazi takeover of power , the Secret State Police Office (Gestapo) for political matters was founded in Prussia in April 1933 ; In November 1933, the political departments were separated from the police headquarters by law and made independent as a secret state police (Gestapo). The Gestapo was no longer part of the general and internal administration, but an independent branch of the executive. As a result, the Gestapo was no longer subordinate to the Prussian Minister of the Interior and the District President , but to the Secret State Police Office, which in turn was not part of the Prussian Interior Ministry, but was directly subordinate to Prime Minister Hermann Göring . The Gestapo control centers took the place of the Berlin Police President and the District President. In February 1933 Hermann Göring had an auxiliary police stationed.

A centralization starting from Prussia (with headquarters in Berlin) and bringing the police into line was not formally implemented until June 17, 1936 by a Führer decree . Before that, Heinrich Himmler , who became Police President of Munich from March 9, 1933, and from April became a consultant and commander of the Bavarian Political Police , together with Reinhard Heydrich , head of the political department of the Munich Police Headquarters , succeeded in the political police in most German states to take over in personal union. On April 20, 1934, Himmler became Deputy Chief of the Gestapo in Prussia. On June 17, 1936, the police was leader adoption verreichlicht and Himmler Chief of the German Police in the Reich Ministry of the Interior . As a result, Himmler was given authority over the Secret State Police against Hermann Göring's resistance. As head of the German police, Himmler was State Secretary in the Reich Ministry of the Interior and now formally reported to Reich Minister of the Interior Wilhelm Frick .

Immediately after Himmler's appointment as head of the German police, the police were transferred to the Ordnungspolizei (OrPo) under the command of Police General (later Colonel General of the Police and SS-Obergruppenführer) Kurt Daluege , who was responsible for maintaining public safety and order as well into the security police (SiPo) under SS-Gruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich, who was appointed to research criminal acts (the official name SiPo was misleading). The Orpo itself was divided into the Schutzpolizei (SchuPo), the community police and the gendarmerie ; The SiPo consisted of the now nationwide Secret State Police , the Criminal Police and the Prussian Criminal Police Office, which rose to become the Reich Criminal Police Office in July 1937. The OrPo was later assigned the fire brigade as fire extinguishing or fire protection police and the technical emergency aid that had existed since the 1920s . The structure within the Ordnungspolizei became more and more extensive. The structure of the secret state police with Stapo control centers and subordinate Stapo offices was transferred to the criminal police soon after it was integrated into the Sipo.

After the process of enforcement, the police began to be denationalized by joining forces with the NSDAP organization Schutzstaffel (SS), which led to the police being transformed into a tool of leadership power while at the same time legal ties were removed. The amalgamation of state offices and party positions was obvious with the police, since Himmler was Reichsführer SS in personal union and Heydrich also held a high SS rank. In September 1939 the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) was established, which led to an administrative connection between the main office OrPo, the main office SiPo and the security service of the Reichsführer SS (SD) under one hand. The RSHA was subordinate to the chief of the German police in the RMI and was headed by Heydrich. Himmler's plan to unite the security organs of the party (SS and SD) and the state (Sipo) under one roof was only half-heartedly met from 1939 onwards with the establishment of the Reich Main Security Office. The SS continued to be independent, only the SD merged into the RSHA. In addition to this, under the leadership of Reinhard Heydrich , the Kripo, as the Reich Criminal Police Office , and the Gestapo were in office, with the Kripo being headed by Arthur Nebe and the Gestapo by Heinrich Müller . In 1941 volunteers were sought for both the Waffen SS and the German police via an appeal poster . Independent organizations, but with collaborative, closely connected hand-in-hand work.

The Gestapo claimed the leadership role within the RSHA, the Gestapo officials were not particularly highly regarded by the Kripo, since most of the Gestapo officials were not selected for professional reasons, but because of their role as " old fighters ". However, there were also many officials within the Gestapo who had been taken over from the political police authorities of the federal states.

For a future German colonial empire , plans for a colonial police began around 1937. In 1941, the Oranienburg Colonial Police School was set up, and there is evidence that two courses were held. Another school was in Vienna . The project was abandoned due to the war situation in 1943.

Occupied Germany 1945–1949

Germany divided into the four zones of occupation

After the end of the war , an orderly administration was only slowly regained in Germany . This progressed very differently from place to place. Confident party members who stayed at home usually cleared their offices just as quietly and quietly as war returnees took over their former guard rooms again and in their recolored Wehrmacht uniforms (without badges) or in civilian with self-made armbands (for example "MG Police" for Military Government Police ) or Police badge started a service.

The development of the police up to the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic proceeded very differently. The decisions made by the occupying powers during this period still influence the police organization in the individual countries to some extent today.

American zone of occupation

Immediately after the US armed forces took the territories, the US military police took over the police duties, although there were also very diverse variants. Each American armed force had its own military police with a criminal investigation department. In addition, the United States Constabulary , which existed from 1946 to 1952, was specially set up for service in the zone of occupation .

British zone of occupation

In the British occupation zone , too , the military police were the first to take over police duties. As early as mid-1945, the police were reorganized by hiring quickly trained German police officers. The police were built on the British model with a largely decentralized structure. City and regional police forces emerged, which were controlled by police committees under local authority. The reasons for this inconsistent structure were, in particular, Allied concerns about the police having too much power and fears of a military character.

In Lower Saxony, the structure prescribed by occupation law was retained after 1947, when the British military government transferred the police to German authorities in accordance with the transitional law of April 23, 1947. It was not until the Police Act of Lower Saxony's Law on Public Safety and Order (SOG) of April 1, 1951 that a uniform Lower Saxony police force was created .

French zone of occupation

In the French occupation zone only the military police initially took over the police duties. After denazification, municipal police forces began to be set up in the French zone as well. French gendarmes were also in charge of the police services in the occupied territories.

Soviet occupation zone

Police tasks were also taken over by the Soviet military police in the areas occupied by the Soviet Army and later transferred by the Western Allies to the Soviet zone of occupation in accordance with the Yalta agreements . This still had full police powers in the GDR until October 2, 1990.

After denazification and the necessary political training of the officials, the German police in the Soviet occupation zone was organized in a very centralized manner.

German Democratic Republic (GDR) 1948–1990

People's police at the opening of the Brandenburg Gate , 1989

In the German Democratic Republic, the police were organized very strictly militarily.

The People's Police were under the Ministry of the Interior of the GDR . The border troops , on the other hand, were subordinate to the Ministry of Defense of the GDR and had sole police power in the several kilometers wide border area. At the barrier coming from the interior of the GDR to the entrance to this border area, the area of ​​responsibility and authority of the People's Police ended and that of the border troops and the border police began.

The People's Police was dissolved at the end of October 2, 1990 and taken over as the respective national police in order to reorganize the police system in the new five states. The border troops and the border police ceased to exist, the staff was partly taken over by the Federal Border Guard.

Federal Republic of Germany 1948–1990

Police officers of the Berlin police

When the Federal Republic of Germany was founded on May 23, 1949, the establishment of the state police was largely complete. Initially, the federal government was only granted a few special police powers, mainly those of border protection and those of a criminal police intelligence collection point. The Basic Law confirmed the police sovereignty of the countries, which had already been ordered by the Western Allies. As a result, only the Federal Border Police , since 2005 the Federal Police , and the Federal Criminal Police Office were federal police forces . In the federal jurisdiction also fell house inspection of the Administration of the German Bundestag since 1994 German Parliament Police and the Inspector of police readiness of the countries after the riot police had been called by an administrative agreement to life. Other special police were the railway police and the operational security service of the Deutsche Bundespost .

Since the 1980s, women in the Federal Republic of Germany have been allowed access to the uniformed police service, although the opening of this profession was not regulated nationwide at the same time, but took place at different times in the federal states. Bavaria was the last country here (1990).

Federal Republic of Germany from 1990

Police officers of the federal states have been participating in international missions since 1994 ( e.g. UNMIK ). Operations prior to this time were tasks such as identifying people who had died in natural disasters or plane crashes abroad or looking for people who had fled abroad.

tasks

The mission is to ensure public safety and order . As a law enforcement authority , it takes action against unlawful and criminal acts, identifies offenders and analyzes patterns of crime. Another task is to avert danger in the area of internal security , that is to say, the prevention or suppression of illegal acts of any kind. In the context of traffic monitoring, it regulates traffic flows and plays a key role in emergency assistance ( emergency calls ). Furthermore, the police, in close cooperation with authorities for crime prevention to possible offenses in advance to detect and prevent.

Separation of police duties

Police officers of the Hamburg police with submachine gun Heckler & Koch MP5
Police officers of the Bavarian Police at speed control with laser pistol
Boat of the Friedrichshafen water police on Lake Constance

For historical reasons, after the Second World War, the Allies divided the police tasks of the Reich Police: in the police laws of most countries, the police are divided into police administration authorities (regulatory tasks) and the law enforcement police . The Allied police letter also stipulated the separation of the tasks of the police from those of the constitutional protection authorities (background: secret state police ). In the beginning there was also the municipal police ( city ​​police ) , especially in the American occupation zone . In the further development, however, the police became completely the task of the country.

The exact organization of the police must be considered against the historical background, especially the time of occupation. The position of the general police is particularly strong in the countries of the French occupation zone. In Rhineland-Palatinate, for example, the mayor was authorized to issue instructions to the police enforcement service until 1992 (since then there has been strict separation of the regulatory authorities and the police). In general, however, the separation is more or less pronounced; for example, it is very strong in North Rhine-Westphalia. The so-called regulatory authorities are completely separated from the police enforcement service (so-called de-policing of the administration). Different laws apply in each case (regulatory authority law or police law). In contrast, the division is far less pronounced in Baden-Württemberg and Saxony. The police administration authorities (referred to as police authorities in Baden-Württemberg and Saxony) are generally responsible for police tasks, the police enforcement service is their executive body and (in parallel) responsible for situations in which action must be taken immediately ( § 60 PolG BW, § 60 SächsPolG ).

Police administration authorities (in Baden-Wuerttemberg and Saxony: police authority , in Bavaria: security authority) are the authorities that usually act to avert danger in the implementation of laws other than the Police Act. Depending on the administrative structure of the country, these are state, district, district and local police authorities. The tasks are carried out for the authority by individual offices such as the public order office or the trade supervisory office (formerly the trade police). This definition does not apply in full for Baden-Württemberg.

Prison police is the part of the police that carries out the main part of the danger prevention according to the state police law. These are above all the protection police ( SchuPo ), the criminal police ( KriPo ), the riot police ( BePo ) and the water protection police ( WSP ). However, the concept of the prison police does not exist in all countries (for example not in Schleswig-Holstein ).

Security

Various heavy duty vehicles for security purposes at a demo

According to the respective federal and state police laws, the main task of the police is initially to avert danger . In the police laws, some of which are based on the joint draft of the Conference of Ministers of the Interior ( MEPolG ), the tasks are defined as follows: "The police have the task of warding off dangers to public safety and order (danger prevention)." Danger prevention is an original task of all German police forces.

The security has a preventive nature, it is one of a legal interest existing danger be averted.

These tasks are performed by patrolling the areas and facilities. In the event of ad hoc security disruptions, an operation is set up by the operations center , which calls up police forces (for example, motorized patrols of the individual service, police commanders or operation hundred ).

Prosecution

In criminal prosecution , the police are subject to the principle of legality , which obliges them to investigate and prosecute criminal offenses .

In order to carry out these tasks, police officers from a certain official title in accordance with Section 152 (1) GVG in conjunction with the respective state ordinance act as investigators for the public prosecutor's office to prosecute criminals and investigate criminal offenses (assigned task). In this function, certain measures can be ordered and carried out in accordance with the Code of Criminal Procedure, such as seizure , search . This task is of a repressive nature ( criminal prosecution ).

Since the public prosecutor's offices do not have their own executive organs and are “hands without a head”, criminal prosecution, especially in imminent danger , is carried out by the police.

Special case of mixed situations

Because of this dual responsibility mentioned above, the task of the police can be

  • according to the police law (generally preventive) of the respective country to avert danger to public safety and order or
  • to the criminal procedure code for criminal prosecution

be assessed (however, compare with measures : double-functional measure ). In the event of a mixed situation, averting danger has priority over criminal prosecution. Example: In the event of a traffic accident, the driver must be rescued from the vehicle. The rescue measures could destroy traces that would have provided information about the course of the accident (and possibly third-party involvement). Nevertheless, saving human life comes first.

Discretion and proportionality

How the police intervenes can be at the dutiful discretion of the authority. In addition, the principle of opportunity can influence the actions of the police in regulatory offense law. In the area of ​​criminal law, the police may act on behalf of the public prosecutor as their investigator .

The principle of proportionality only gives it leeway in terms of the intensity of the investigative activity, especially if a suspicion of a criminal offense has not yet been sufficiently substantiated, and when taking action .

Main tasks

The main areas of activity of the police can therefore not only be determined by legal requirements, but also by the decisions of the political leaders of the police authority (service instructions), especially in crime prevention . An example of this is the change in policy to combat the drug scene at Hamburg Central Station. There was a short-term change from a generous handling of powers to a zero-tolerance- like displacement strategy.

In this case, operational resources are determined (usually individual duty patrols), which usually go to the scene of the incident using an emergency vehicle and take the necessary measures. There, a situation report is sent to the operations center, which creates a picture of the situation . Almost every assignment requires administrative processing, some of which has to be dealt with immediately ("process production", for example interrogations , criminal charges , traffic accident reports , incident reports and reporting ).

There is a more recent development not only in Switzerland on summer weekends when there is a “ Mediterraneanization of city life” and disturbances of the peace are displayed, for example .

Police organization

Law enforcement units

Protection police

The Schutzpolizei (SchuPo) mainly takes on general tasks of maintaining public safety and order, general law enforcement and road traffic monitoring. In the case of urgency, she also takes on the tasks of traffic control and traffic control for the traffic police .

Contact area officer

The contact area officer (KOB) is a law enforcement officer of the security police who is responsible for a specific geographical area, which he usually looks after and knows well for years. Contact area officers generally only patrol during the day on foot or in a patrol car . The main task of the officials is to maintain contact between the citizens and the police , largely detached from the executive tasks of the police force, and to be the point of contact in the event of problems.

The designation contact area official is not used uniformly nationwide. Thus, an official with corresponding functions, for example, is Bremen as contact cop (LD) , in North Rhine-Westphalia as district official or in Hamburg as citizens Middle Officials (Bünabe) respectively.

Directional signs on federal motorways (sign 363)

Traffic police

The traffic police are primarily responsible for monitoring the flow of traffic, recording accidents and for large-scale traffic controls (e.g. heavy goods traffic ). Depending on the federal state, the traffic police are either part of the protection police or they have a separate organizational structure (e.g. traffic police departments and traffic commissariats of the Baden-Württemberg police ). At the Berlin police , the entire traffic police are summarized under the term escort and traffic service (BVkD) .

Criminal police

The criminal investigation department (Kripo) specializes in the prevention and prosecution of crimes and offenses . The organizational forms of the criminal police in the individual federal states are very different. What all federal states have in common, however, is that there is a State Criminal Police Office (LKA) for the coordination and information control of the fight against and prevention of crime . The Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) was set up in March 1951 to ensure cooperation between the Federation and the Länder in the criminal police .

Riot police

The riot police (BePo) supports the individual police service in performing its tasks in daily duty and especially in unusual operations, for example in natural disasters , football games , concerts , demonstrations , or in property protection . In contrast to the protection police, the officers of the riot police usually operate in closed tactical units, e.g. B. in hundreds , trains or groups . Riot police associations of different strengths exist in all state police forces and in the federal police force.

Water police

The water protection police (WSP) is responsible for shipping-related crime prevention, the prosecution of criminal and administrative offenses , environmental protection and traffic safety in the water.

Special forces

Special units of the German police force are the mobile task forces (MEK) and special task forces (SEK) in the state police as well as the GSG 9 , the evidence preservation and arrest unit plus (BFE +) and the mobile control and surveillance units (MKÜ) in the federal police.

Police of the countries

State police and state criminal investigation offices

According to the Basic Law , the police, like the exercise of all state powers, is basically a matter for the Länder, cf. Art. 30 GG. Organization, tasks and powers are primarily regulated in the police laws of the federal states, in some federal states (e.g. in Bavaria or Thuringia ) the former is the subject of a separate police organization law .

The state police in every country includes the law enforcement police, i.e. what is now commonly understood as “the police”. Their tasks include the protection police and the criminal police . The demarcation of the two areas, as well as the subdivision of the protection police, is very different. Furthermore, training and further education facilities as well as, if necessary, a police administration office and the riot police belong to the state police.

After all, there is a State Criminal Police Office in every country , whose organizational relationship with the criminal police is also different. In addition, some countries have also set up voluntary police services as police reserves or auxiliary police.

Police in state parliaments

Some state constitutions have regulations on the police force of a state administration, such as the constitution of the state of Baden-Württemberg ( Art. 32, Paragraph 2) or Art. 21, Paragraph 1 of the Constitution of the Free State of Bavaria ( constitutional text at gesetze-bayern.de ). For example, the state constitution of Baden-Württemberg assigns house rights and police powers in the meeting building to the president of the state parliament .

Municipal police forces

The federal states largely nationalized the former local police authorities (e.g. city ​​police ) in the 1970s, which means that they perform the police enforcement service as far as possible through the state authorities themselves. The security , ie the actual, physical police task while still remained the general administrative transfer that u this. a. by the regulatory authorities. Recently, however, an expansion of the area of ​​municipal police activity on the basis of municipal police authorities has been observed in various federal states. Examples of such developments are the regulatory police in Hesse or the municipal enforcement services in Baden-Württemberg and Saxony.

Federal Police

Federal Police

The Federal Police (BPOL) emerged from the Federal Border Police ( BGS ) in 2005 and performs tasks that have been specifically assigned to it on the basis of the Federal Police Act (BPolG) . These tasks include, among other things, the border police protection of the federal territory, the safeguarding of the safety of passengers in rail traffic and the protection of railway facilities ( railway police ) , the protection against attacks on the safety of air traffic, the protection of the constitutional organs of the federal government and the federal ministries as well as the Support for other federal and state police forces. The Federal Police is part of the division of the Federal Ministry of the Interior and currently employs 40,310 people, of which 33,267 are law enforcement officers.

Federal Criminal Police Office

Aerial view of the headquarters of the BKA in Wiesbaden

The Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) has existed since 1951 as a national information collection point between the individual federal and state police forces and for foreign law enforcement authorities (e.g. Interpol ). It also carries out special investigations, activities and tasks of national interest, e.g. B. in cases of serious organized crime (OK) or human smuggling . Its legal status is regulated in Art. 73 No. 10 GG and in the BKA Act .

Police at the German Bundestag

The regulations on police violence in the German Bundestag and the parliaments of the federal states reflect the separation of powers . According to Article 40, Paragraph 2 of the Basic Law , the President of the Bundestag exercises sole police power in the buildings of the German Bundestag. For this purpose, it has its own police authority, which is known as the police at the German Bundestag . It employs around 210 civil servants and is responsible for averting threats to public safety and order as well as for prosecuting criminal offenses and administrative offenses in the Bundestag buildings and the associated premises. Other police authorities, such as the federal police or the Berlin police , as well as public prosecutors' offices expressly have no such powers in these areas.

education

Due to the fact that the police are regulated federally, the training to become a law enforcement officer differs from country to country.

In principle, you can train to become a police master in the middle service . However, direct entry into the higher service (requirement for technical college entrance qualification) as a police inspector or, in rare cases, direct entry into higher service (requirement is a completed university degree) as a police officer is possible. The states regulate this independently. In some countries such as Rhineland-Palatinate or Hesse, no new recruits are made in the middle service as part of the so-called two-tier career, the civil servants still in the middle service are gradually transferred to the higher service. The training is mainly divided into theoretical-technical and practical parts. The content of teaching and exams includes subjects such as police studies , leadership and operational training, criminal law , police law , constitutional law , traffic law , criminology , criminalistics , political education and others.

Practical training includes shooting training , police behavior and driving safety training, use in closed associations, sport and practical exercises, for example for recording traffic accidents.

Personnel and numbers

Full-time equivalents in the police force
year number
2008 294,680
2009 295.135
2010 295,585
2011 296,460
2012 297,865
2013 298.775
2014 299.170

The number of employees in the police force has risen steadily from the establishment of the Federal Republic of Germany until reunification. Since 1989, the development has initially been dominated by the takeover of former People's Police; As a result, there was initially a significant increase in civil servants and collective bargaining employees in the police in the 1990s.

Employees
1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
97,740 147,637 150,072 164.177 177,620 200.992 228,842 235.910 240,797 325,269 316.681 315.293 308.334 310.970 313,300 320,500 327.40 333,300

Between 2004 and 2014 the number rose significantly in the western federal states, both in absolute terms and in relation to the number of inhabitants, in eastern Germany there were in some cases significant decreases. While the value of full-time equivalents in Rhineland-Palatinate rose by 6.9% from 2004 to 2014, it fell by 23.3% in Saxony-Anhalt. This different development can only be explained by the very high density of personnel in East Germany, which resulted from the takeover of GDR personnel. While Bavaria had 293 employees per 100,000 inhabitants in 2004, the number in Saxony-Anhalt was 404.

The data of the official personnel statistics available in Germany take into account all civil servants and collective bargaining employees who are included in the "Police" task area. The values ​​are expressed in terms of employees (“heads”) or full-time equivalents. Whether personnel are shown in the “police” task area depends solely on whether a corresponding coding has been carried out in the budget of the respective regional authority for a specific authority. Accordingly, the data of the official statistics show significant data breaks in the last few years, most of which result from organizational changes (e.g. in the context of administrative reforms). The official statistics in Germany when recording police personnel are based on a different understanding than the “crime statistics” from eurostat . Only "police officers" and thus the police officers should be recorded there. Contrary to what is required by the rules of European statistics, no municipal enforcement officers (“city guard”, “municipal police”) are taken into account in Germany. This is problematic insofar as there have been numerous relocations of tasks between the state police and the municipalities in recent years (e.g. with regard to presence in public spaces, responsibilities for combating noise pollution, accommodating the mentally ill). A comparison of German data with data from other European countries is therefore only possible to a limited extent.

uniform

As of 2004, most police forces chose steel blue ( RAL 5011 ) as the new color for their police uniforms, usually with white or blue shirts or blouses and white or blue service caps . The Bavarian police initially retained the previously common green color scheme, ostentatiously for reasons of tradition (the gendarmerie had been wearing green uniforms since 1813, and the paramilitary state police since 1919). Since December 2, 2016, however, the Bavarian Police, the last remaining state police, has also introduced a blue uniform model.

The exact design of the different uniforms was regulated by the individual states for their state police forces and the federal government for the federal police itself, so that although the uniforms are similar, there is no nationwide uniform police uniform. There are essentially seven different uniform models in use by the German police .

Uniform model use
Baden-Württemberg Police in Baden-Württemberg
Bavaria Police Bavaria
Brandenburg Police Berlin , Police Brandenburg , Police Saxony
Federal Police Federal Police Bundestag Police
Hamburg Police Bremen , Police Hamburg , Police Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , Police Lower Saxony , Police Schleswig-Holstein
Hesse Police Hesse , Police Rhineland-Palatinate , Police Saarland , Police Thuringia
North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia police

The Saxony-Anhalt police force is the only German police force to use a combination of the Brandenburg and Hesse uniform models.

vehicles

VW bus of the Rhineland-Palatinate police with old green and white paint scheme
Federal police patrol car with old license plate in blue and silver livery

The German police forces mainly use Audi , BMW , Ford , Mercedes-Benz , Opel and Volkswagen vehicles as official vehicles . Vehicles from other manufacturers are also occasionally used.

Police cars are currently Audi A6 , Audi A8 , BMW 3 Series , BMW 5 Series , BMW X1 , BMW X3 , Ford Mondeo , Mercedes-Benz B-Class , Mercedes-Benz C-Class , Mercedes-Benz E-Class , Mercedes-Benz S- Class , Mercedes-Benz Vito , Opel Astra , Opel Insignia , Opel Vectra , Opel Zafira , VW Caddy , VW Golf , VW Passat , VW Sharan , VW Touran , VW T4 and VW T5 .

The willingness of the countries police forces and the Federal also take advantage of emergency vehicles of the brands Fiat , Ford , Land Rover and Mitsubishi . Vehicles of the brands Nissan and Toyota are rarely used.

Coloring

The current vehicle paintwork of most police forces is traffic blue ( RAL 5017 ) in combination with silver or white.

In Bavaria and Saarland, the green / silver paintwork was retained for reasons of tradition. Since mid-September 2016, blue / silver patrol cars have also been used in Bavaria and Saarland.

Mark

As of March 1, 2007, the official license plates were abolished as part of the new vehicle registration regulation. In the meantime, central approval has become established in all states except Bavaria and Lower Saxony.

Service and office titles

The following official designations are used uniformly by the various state police forces and - since 2000 - also by the federal police and the former Federal Border Police, with a few exceptions. The official titles at the criminal police are accordingly criminal inspector etc.

Middle service or qualification level 2

Senior service or qualification level 3

Higher service or qualification level 4

  • Police Referendar - PRef or Police Advisory Officer - PRAnw
  • Police Council - PR (A 13)
  • Higher Police Council - POR (A 14)
  • Police Director - PD (A 15)
  • Chief Police Director - LPD or Ltd. PD (A 16)

There are also other official titles for special management functions ( salary order B ), which are dealt with exhaustively in the main article and are therefore not listed here.

Police history collections

Police-like facilities

In addition to the police, there are organizations with executive powers that are not subordinate to the interior authorities as subordinate agencies. This includes:

Various (official) persons have, in some cases limited, police intervention powers:

Servants of the

Designations in the German public

In the vernacular there are different, sometimes insulting names for police officers. The most widespread is the term " Bulle " (although it has already become common that German television commissioners, for example, the KHK "Ballauf" and "Schenk" from the Cologne crime scene call themselves "Bulle"). Another older name is “chives” (“green outside, hollow inside”), which was already known in the GDR in the 1980s. The abbreviation ACAB ("All Cops are Bastards") has a special position among action-oriented young people as well as hooligans , the black block and neo-Nazis . They wear clothes with the abbreviation and chant slogans directed against the police during public appearances ("Hate, hate, hate like never before. All cops are bastards - A CA B!").

The designations "Herr Oberforstmeister" or "Herr Oberforster" were judged not to be offensive because they are known to be honorable professions.

Police misconduct

Procedure in the event of legal violations

Many complaints and criminal charges have been filed against police officers over time. A distinction must be made here between the official offenses punished in the disciplinary procedure and the criminal offenses ( e.g. official offenses or damage to property) or administrative offenses (e.g. unjustified use of special rights ), which are prosecuted in a corresponding procedure by the competent authority and additionally in disciplinary proceedings become.

Often crimes and administrative offenses that were committed by a civil servant on duty are prosecuted by a dedicated police station ( e.g. internal investigations ). For reasons of the objectivity of the police investigation, investigations in criminal or administrative offense proceedings are usually not carried out by police officers from the department concerned, but by external departments (e.g. from the neighboring district).

In addition to the above legally regulated procedures, those affected also have the right to lodge a complaint . What kind of complaint it is depends on the subject of the complaint:

Easy complaints are usually the Head of Service processed the disciplinary proceedings, however, by the competent supervision authority (eg police headquarters , police headquarters , the National Police Directorate, Ministry of the Interior ) and the technical supervision complaints also by the competent authority (for example, by the Interior Ministry, in particular areas of the police, for example for food law, also from the relevant specialist ministry or the responsible state authority). When it comes to responsibility, it is not decisive who it is addressed to, but what character it is; They are therefore usually forwarded to the lowest competent authority within the authorities and also within the correct administrative branch. The relevant authority will also be informed if there are indications of a breach of duty.

Violation Reports

According to Amnesty International reports , ill-treatment and excessive use of force by police officers occur again and again. A significant proportion of those who reported such incidents are foreign nationals or Germans of foreign origin.

Such incidents also occur with deportations.

One case that was covered in national media is the death of the refugee Aamir Ageeb , who died while being deported as a result of willful bodily harm by BGS officials.

Another case is the Daschner trial , in which police officers were accused of coercion and incitement to do so and were found guilty.

The Federal Working Group of Critical Police Officers deals, among other things, with illegal acts by police officers and, as a consequence, calls for the mandatory identification of police officers to be extended to all federal states.

Another point of criticism is that there are no independent complaints offices for cases of police misconduct, and according to human rights organizations, investigations against police officers should be conducted almost exclusively unilaterally.

Inappropriate use of force

The use of inappropriate police violence has also been criticized in recent years. In particular, several violent attacks by police officers who went unpunished caused a stir. The police hardly or not at all admit their “mistakes” in the use of force. According to a study by Amnesty International , the use of inappropriate force by police officers has increased in recent years and is not limited to incidents during protests against Stuttgart 21 or the Castor transports. According to Amnesty International, police brutality includes not only violence but also theft, manslaughter and rape.

Treatment of legal violations

Officials from other departments often rely on witnesses from the direct circle of colleagues of the accused for the investigation. For various reasons, however, relevant statements against one's own colleagues are rare. Quite a few police officers who have testified against colleagues who have committed criminal offenses report subsequent bullying and exclusion. Public prosecutors are also often not interested in punishing violations of the law by police officers, as they depend on their cooperation in their everyday work and on their credibility as witnesses in court.

Amnesty International reports that there is often insufficient investigation into police officers and that these proceedings are dragging on. Prosecutors rarely bring charges against police officers and set the threshold high. They also tended to be more likely to believe what the police said. In addition, convicted police officers were often given a penalty that was not in line with the offense. Amnesty International therefore calls for “independent investigation mechanisms”.

Criminal legal violations by police officers are prosecuted by the responsible public prosecutor as the "mistress of the procedure". If they are charged, they will be punished by the competent court. With the consent of the competent court and the accused, the public prosecutor's office can, however, temporarily refrain from bringing the indictment and at the same time impose conditions on the accused (e.g. amount of money, charitable service) if these are suitable to eliminate the public interest in criminal prosecution, and do not conflict with the gravity of the violation. Although this procedure means that the proceedings are suspended, the violation of the law is punished in the form of the corresponding condition. If the investigation does not provide sufficient cause for a charge (e.g. accusations are not true), the public prosecutor will drop the case.

Audio

Philatelic

On July 1, 2019, the first day of issue, Deutsche Post AG issued a postage stamp with a face value of 155 euro cents with the designation of Federal and State Police . The design comes from the graphic artist Andreas Hoch from Baltmannsweiler.

Historical police forces in Germany

See also

literature

  • Peter Blickle , Peter Kissling, Heinrich R. Schmidt: Good Policey as Politics in the 16th Century. ISBN 3-465-03272-1 .
  • Peter Bröhl: Water police in three epochs. ISBN 3-935979-73-8 .
  • Christopher R. Browning: The Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the "Final Solution" in Poland. Rowohlt, Reinbek 1999, ISBN 3-499-60800-6 .
  • Heiner Busch: The police in the Federal Republic , 2nd edition Frankfurt / Main u. a. (Campus-Verlag) 1988. ISBN 3-593-33960-9
  • Sven Deppisch: perpetrator on the school desk . The officer training of the regulatory police and the Holocaust. Marburg 2017, ISBN 978-3-8288-4050-8 .
  • Frank Kawelovski, Sabine Mecking: Police in Transition. 70 years of police work in North Rhine-Westphalia . Greven: Cologne 2019, ISBN 978-3-7743-0903-6 .
  • Andreas Mix: “Friend and executioner” - the police in the Nazi state. in German Police, No. 5 from May 2011, magazine of the police union
  • George L. Mosse : Police Forces in History. London, Beverly Hills 1975, ISBN 0-8039-9928-3 . (Sage Readers in 20th Century History Vol. 2) (Contains, among other things, articles on the history of the police in National Socialism, Weimar and the German Empire.)
  • Daniel Schmidt: Protect and serve. Policemen in the Ruhr area in democracy and dictatorship 1919–1939. Klartext, Essen 2008, ISBN 978-3-89861-929-5 .
  • Rolf Schmidt: Special Administrative Law II ISBN 3-86651-007-1 .
  • Jürgen W. Schmidt: The local police of the Prussian small and medium-sized towns and their problems from the middle of the 19th to the beginning of the 20th century. In: Jürgen W. Schmidt (Ed.): Police in Prussia in the 19th century. Ludwigsfelde 2011, ISBN 978-3-933022-66-0 , pp. 8-46.
  • Dieter Schulze: The big book of the German People's Police Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-360-01080-9 .
  • Dieter Schulze, Eveline Schulze: The big book of the combat groups: history, tasks and equipment as well as everything about the bismuth police. Das neue Berlin, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-360-01900-4 .
  • Antonio Vera : Organization and Personnel Management in the Police . Publishing house for police science, Frankfurt a. M. 2015, ISBN 978-3-86676-410-1 .
  • Wolfgang Schulte (ed.): The police in the Nazi state. Contribution to an international symposium at the German Police University in Münster. Verlag für Polizeiwissenschaft, Frankfurt am Main 2009, ISBN 978-3-86676-093-6 . (Series of publications by the German Society for Police History, Vol. 7).
  • Patrick Wagner: National community without criminals. Concepts and practice of the criminal police during the Weimar Republic and National Socialism. Christians, Hamburg 1996.
  • Falco Werkentin : The restoration of the German police. Internal armaments from 1945 to the emergency legislation , Frankfurt a. M. Main 1984. ISBN 3-593-33426-7 .
  • Friedrich Wilhelm: The police in the Nazi state: the history of their organization at a glance. 2nd edition, Paderborn 1999, ISBN 3-506-77513-8 .
  • German Police University, Münster; Florian Dierl, Mariana Hausleitner , Martin Hölzl, Andreas Mix (eds.): Order and Destruction: The Police in the Nazi State. Sandstein Verlag, Dresden 2011, ISBN 978-3-942422-30-7 .
  • Jakob Zollmann: Colonial rule and its limits. The Colonial Police in German South West Africa 1894–1915 (= Critical Studies in History. Volume 191). Göttingen 2010, ISBN 978-3-525-37018-6 (also Phil. Diss. Of the Free University of Berlin).

Web links

Commons : German Police  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Wikibooks: Rights and duties in dealing with the police  - learning and teaching materials

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kreuzberg judgment of the Prussian OVG of 1882, OVG E 9, 353 ff., By declaring a police ordinance, which was enacted to protect the prospect of the war memorial on the Kreuzberg in Berlin, to be invalid because it was not part of the security i. S. d. Section 10 II 17 ALR served.
  2. ^ Karl D. Bracher: The German dictatorship: emergence, structure, consequences of National Socialism, KiWi, o. J., o. S .: online
  3. ↑ a b Police General Daluege, SS-Gruppenführer Heydrich, Colonel Meissner and Lieutenant Colonel Albert (from right) at the Police Ski Championships in Kitzbühel , photo of the world from March 5, 1939, in the Austrian National Library.
  4. ↑ Heydrich, the chief of the security police and the SD, at the presentation of the prizes , Weltbild photo from March 4, 1941, in the Austrian National Library.
  5. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento from November 14, 2018 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ↑ Colonel General Daluege, SS-Obergruppenführer and Colonel General of the Police , Weltbild photo dated August 24, 1943, in the Austrian National Library.
  7. ^ Appeal, The next acceptance studies of volunteers for the Waffen-SS and for the German police , Rabeck Druck, Vienna, 1941, in the Austrian National Library.
  8. ↑ a b Baden-Württemberg : in the 1970s (Karlsruhe 1972 ), see also law amending the Police Act [PolG] of October 22, 1991 (Journal of Laws p. 625), Art. 1 No. 31; Bavaria : Police Organization Act (POG) of 10 August 1976 (GVBl. P. 303), Art. 1 and 13; Hessen : Law amending the Hessian law on public safety and order [HSOG] (changes GVBl II 310-10) of December 17, 1971 . In: The Hessian Minister of the Interior (Hrsg.): Law and Ordinance Gazette for the State of Hesse . 1971 No. 35 , p. 333 , Art. 1 No. 1 and 16 ( online at the information system of the Hessian State Parliament [PDF; 637 kB ]). ; but see also Bremen: Police enforcement service of the municipality of Bremerhaven ( § 74 BremPolG )
  9. ↑ Erich Aschwanden, Daniel Gerny: 1: 0 for party-goers with the police costs. nzz.ch, June 2, 2013, accessed June 2, 2013.
  10. ↑ Contents: Wolfgang Herterich. Design and content: Jeanette Reusch-Mlynárik, online publisher: Constitution of the State of Baden-Württemberg. In: www.lpb-bw.de. Retrieved January 2, 2017 .
  11. ^ BPolG - Law on the Federal Police. In: www.gesetze-im-internet.de. Retrieved January 2, 2017 .
  12. ↑ Federal Police - data and facts. In: www.bundespolizei.de. Retrieved January 2, 2017 .
  13. ↑ Federal Statistical Office: Civil Service Personnel 2014, p. 79 , accessed on January 10, 2016.
  14. ^ Antholz: Review of personnel development in public administration with judges and police, DÖV 2015, p. 566 ff.
  15. ↑ Employment figures in the public service accessed on July 27, 2020.
  16. ↑ a b Federal Statistical Office, full-time equivalents of employees in the police department , accessed on February 14, 2016.
  17. ↑ Federal Statistical Office, Police: Downsizing in the east, increases in some western territorial states , accessed on February 14, 2016.
  18. ↑ Destatis, Fachserie 14, Reihe 6, 2014, explanation of the term “task area”.
  19. ↑ ec.europa.eu
  20. ↑ New uniform of the Bavarian police. In: www.innenministerium.bayern.de. Retrieved January 8, 2017 .
  21. ↑ Bavaria's police drive blue: These are the new police cars , BR.de, September 15, 2016.
  22. ↑ Green outside, hollow inside Green outside, hollow inside, Berliner Zeitung, 2003.
  23. ↑ Klaus Farin: The Skins: Myth and Reality. Ch.links Verlag, 1998, p. 229.
  24. ↑ RP-online: Berlin District Court ruled "Oberförster is not an insult"
  25. ↑ Ben Knight: How racist are the German police? dw.com , June 5, 2020, accessed June 5, 2020
  26. ↑ a b Germany reports from Amnesty International ( 2004 ( memento of August 17, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 475 kB), 2010 ( memento of August 17, 2014 in the Internet Archive ); PDF; 846 kB)
  27. ^ Press report from Amnesty International Deutschland e. V.
  28. ↑ fr-online.de:(Frankfurter-Rundschau) When police officers become thugs
  29. ↑ sueddeutsche.de:Process stopped, allegations remain
  30. ^ Sueddeutsche.de:Beats in the name of the law
  31. ↑ sueddeutsche.de: AI study
  32. ↑ AI country report
  33. ↑ stern.de:German police officers are so brutal
  34. ↑ www.amnestypolizei.de (PDF; 135 kB)
  35. ↑ § 152 StPO
  36. ↑ § 153 a StPO
  37. ↑ § 170 (2) StPO
  38. ^ Order and Destruction - The Police in the Nazi State, exhibition of the German Police University and the German Historical Museum
  39. ↑ See Kurt Schilde: Review of: Wolfgang Schulte (Ed.): The police in the Nazi state. Contribution to an international symposium at the German Police University in Münster. Frankfurt am Main 2009 . In: H-Soz-u-Kult . January 14, 2010.