Police protection tasks abroad of the Federal Police

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Police officers of the police protection tasks abroad of the federal police at the Black Griffin 2018 , an international police maneuver

The Police Protection Tasks Abroad of the Federal Police (PSA BPOL; formerly Personal Protection Abroad ) are special forces of the German Federal Police with the task of protecting the German diplomatic missions (especially embassies ) at particularly endangered locations abroad. The agency, founded in 2008, has been subordinate to Federal Police Directorate 11 in Berlin since April 2017 .

background

The Federal Police supports the Foreign Office in accordance with Section 9 (1) No. 2 of the Federal Police Act (BPolG) “in performing tasks to protect German missions abroad” on the basis of an administrative agreement from 1974.

The protection of German missions abroad is one of the tasks of the Federal Police. In addition to the security officer at the diplomatic mission abroad (SAV; formerly: House Rules and Property Protection Service, HOD) and the deployment of security advisors who advise the embassy staff in the context of crisis prevention, this includes personal protection for German ambassadors in crisis areas.

As of 2013, around 250 federal police officers were responsible for protecting the missions abroad, including around 80 officers from the PSA special forces.

history

The protection of German missions abroad by officers of the Federal Police (until 2005: Federal Border Police ) has a tradition that goes back to the 1970s. While the protection order in the so-called house and property protection service initially only related to the embassy premises, personal protection for ambassadors and embassy staff was added later. After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 and the intervention of NATO , the danger situation in individual countries had worsened to such an extent that initially the special unit GSG 9 of the Federal Police provided personal protection for the German ambassadors in Baghdad ( Iraq ) and Kabul ( Afghanistan ) took over. This continuous deployment of GSG 9 officials with double workload became a burden, so that a rethink in the organization of personal protection appeared necessary. The Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI) subsequently decided that in order to relieve the burden on GSG 9 and the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), personal protection at crisis locations should be guaranteed by a newly established unit of the Federal Police.

In April 2008, the Federal Ministry of the Interior commissioned the Federal Police to reorganize personal protection for German ambassadors in crisis areas. For the sole assumption of the task and the necessary organizational adjustments, a development team was initially set up in the Federal Police Headquarters under the name of Aufbaustab Protection Tasks in Crisis Areas (ASSIK) . A little later, the development staff was transformed into a separate unit (44). In June 2008, the Federal Ministry of the Interior finally transferred the task of protecting ambassadors from the BKA to the Federal Police. In December 2008, the first Personal Protection Command (PSK) of Section 44 took over its assignment at the German Embassy in Kabul. As of summer 2009, the protection order was expanded to include issues of property protection and security-related process organization at particularly endangered diplomatic missions abroad. In the course of the expansion, the current crisis security officers of the Federal Police at foreign missions (K-SAV), called special forces of the so-called ad-hoc pool at that time, were attached to Unit 44 .

In January 2010 a new unit called Protection in Crisis Areas (SIK) was attached to Section 44 in the Federal Police Headquarters and took over the protection of the Ambassador in Baghdad that same month. The GSG 9 was thereby removed. As a result of the increasing terrorist threat, other locations such as Sanaa ( Yemen ) and Tripoli ( Libya ) followed from 2012 .

In June 2012, Department 44 of the Federal Police Headquarters was dissolved by a decision by the Federal Minister of the Interior, Hans-Peter Friedrich , and the Personal Protection Abroad (PSA) unit was organizationally linked to GSG 9.

On August 1, 2017, the Federal Police Directorate 11 (BPOLD 11) was founded in Berlin and the PSA special forces, renamed as Police Protection Tasks Abroad of the Federal Police , were organizationally integrated into it. In organizational terms, BPOLD 11 consists of PSA BPOL , the special unit GSG 9, the Federal Police Fliegergruppe (BPOLFLG), the flight safety attendants of the unit Special Protection Tasks for Aviation (BSL) and the special forces of the operational and investigation support (EEU).

Deployments of the unit and cooperation

While in the first years after the establishment of the unit only the locations Kabul and Baghdad were to be occupied, from 2012 further locations were added with Sanaa, Tripoli, Beirut, Erbil and Mazar-e Sharif. The reason for this was a generally increasing terrorist threat and civil unrest in the wake of the so-called Arab Spring . Due to acute hazards that did not last for a long time, such as after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti , there were also short-term deployments.

In October 2013, a PSA BPOL bodyguard employed at the embassy in Sanaa (Yemen) was allegedly murdered by terrorists.

The task complexity is countered with close cooperation with other security actors during training at home and abroad. For example, the PPE workers are supported in training and logistics by the Federal Police's GSG 9 . In 2015, together with the Dutch unit Brigade Speciale Beveiligingsopdrachten (BSB), an international workshop program called Black Griffin was started for personal protection units in crisis areas. Black Griffin has since been an established workshop project that brings together international personal protection units to optimize operational collaboration. The project on which u. a. Employees of the Austrian task force Cobra take part, is co-financed by the European Union as part of Erasmus + . In addition, joint training courses with partner units from home and abroad take place regularly, for example in the USA .

Selection, training and deployment of unit members

For use at the PSA BPOL , law enforcement officers of the middle and upper service of the Federal Police who have completed their training or studies and are able and willing to use abroad can apply. Furthermore, they have to pass an aptitude selection procedure (EAV). Experience has shown that between 40 and 60 percent of applicants pass the EAV.

The EAV is followed by a three-month advanced training course on personal protection. The participants first learn the basics of personal protection with a focus on the protection of people in Germany (politicians, accused and witnesses in criminal proceedings). This is followed by special first aid training (based on the principles of Tactical Combat Casualty Care ) and emergency driving training with specially protected and off-road vehicles. Only then will the focus be placed on personal protection measures in crisis areas. Further training is consistently accompanied by intensive training in shooting (including shooting with special weapons such as the G8 ), sport and realistic operational training. The failure rate for advanced training is less than 10 percent.

In addition to coordinating the operations from the operations center of the respective embassy, ​​the range of tasks on the mission includes reconnaissance, pre-command and mission drives as well as the maintenance of the device or the continuation of the alarm and evacuation plan.

The PSA officers are connected to the Federal Foreign Office during deployment . You are usually deployed at an embassy abroad for three months. A six-month use in Germany is then planned, which in turn will be followed by a three-month use. The stays in Germany may be a. used to exchange current information with the forces in training and in preparation for operations. When used in a personal protection command abroad, the officers are entitled to an allowance for special missions ( Section 22 Hardship Allowance Ordinance , 375 euros per month since January 1, 2017, previously EUR 300 from January 1, 2012).

Armament

literature

  • Jan-Phillipp Weisswange: ASSIK. The Federal Police's protective tasks. In: Strategy & Technology. Vol. 52, No. 5, May 2009, ISSN  1860-5311 , pp. 73-74.

Web links

Commons : Police protection tasks abroad of the Federal Police  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b German investigators should help with an investigation in Yemen . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , October 7, 2013, accessed on September 9, 2018.
  2. ↑ a b c Personal protection abroad by the Federal Police . In: Federal Police Headquarters (Ed.): Bundespolizei compact , No. 4/2016, pp. 31–34 ( PDF ; 4 MB). Retrieved September 9, 2018.
  3. ↑ a b c d e Joachim Silk: The emergence of a new federal police headquarters . In: Federal Police Headquarters (Ed.): Federal Police Compact , No. 5/2017, pp. 6-14, here p. 12: Police protection tasks abroad of the Federal Police (PSA BPOL) ( PDF ; 4 MB). Retrieved September 9, 2018.
  4. ↑ a b Dirk Kattlun, Alexander Geyer: The history of the federal police abroad . In: Bundespolizeipäsidium (Ed.): Bundespolizei Kompakt , No. 4/2012, pp. 38–41, here p. 41 ( PDF ; 4 MB). Retrieved September 9, 2018.
  5. ↑ Tom Becker: A good team as life insurance . In: Bundespolizeipäsidium (Ed.): Bundespolizei compact , No. 4/2012, pp. 16–18, here p. 17 ( PDF ; 4 MB). Retrieved September 9, 2018.
  6. ↑ Jürgen Dahlkamp , Hubert Gude: Machos with a skull . In: Der Spiegel , No. 27/2012, p. 45 ( PDF ). Retrieved September 9, 2018.
  7. ↑ Reimund Gans: Black Griffin 2015 . In: Bundespolizeipäsidium (Ed.): Bundespolizei compact , No. 6/2015, pp. 21–22 ( PDF ; 3 MB). Retrieved September 9, 2018.
  8. ↑ "As close as necessary" . In: Federal Ministry of the Interior (Ed.): Public Safety , Issue 7–8 / 2017, pp. 22–23, here p. 23 ( PDF ). Retrieved September 10, 2018.
  9. ↑ Going abroad with the Federal Police? The field of police protection tasks abroad. March 15, 18, accessed September 3, 2019 .
  10. ↑ Martin Kügele: Personal protection abroad of the Federal Police . In: Federal Police Headquarters (Ed.): Bundespolizei compact , No. 2/2014, pp. 16-19 ( PDF ; 3 MB). Retrieved September 9, 2018.
  11. ^ A b Philipp von Ditfurth: PSA - The special bodyguard unit of the Federal Police. Retrieved December 9, 2019 .
  12. ↑ a b c K-ISOM Editor: K-ISOM 05/2018 . Ed .: Katrin Schulz, S.Ka.-Verlag. 05/2018 edition. Katrin Schulz, S.Ka.-Verlag.