Circular decree on the reorganization of the Reich Criminal Police
The circular on the reorganization of the Reich Criminal Police was a decree of the Reich Minister of the Interior dated September 20, 1936 ( RMBliV. 1936, p. 1339), which eliminated the organizational independence of the criminal police in the German states and made them subject to a central and uniform enforcement service of the Reich Criminal Police .
Structure of the circular
The circular comprised five paragraphs marked with Roman numerals and an annex. In this appendix the reorganization of the Reich Criminal Police in certain districts, called criminal police offices, was listed.
I. paragraph
(1) The Prussian State Criminal Police Office (renamed the Reich Criminal Police Office ( RKPA) by the decree of July 16, 1937 (RMBliV. 1937, p. 1152)) was organisationally and locally separated from the Berlin police headquarters . However, the economic conditions, e.g. B. the organization of the vehicle fleet and the questions of the salaries of the employees, still connected with the Berlin police administration. The services remained at the previous locations until the future accommodation was clarified.
(2) The Reich Minister of the Interior entrusted the RKPA with the technical management of the criminal police in all countries of the Reich.
II. Paragraph
The RKPA was given the task of creating a uniform management of the municipal and state criminal police. Cooperation between these departments should also be ensured. According to the guidelines of the chief of the security police (Sipo) the further training of the police officers should be organized and the effectiveness of the police should be promoted and increased. The RKPA was authorized to inspect the state of the training and the equipment of the municipal and state criminal police as well as the gendarmes, as far as a criminal police activity was carried out, or to convince itself of the condition.
III. paragraph
(1) The RKPA had the task of evaluating the knowledge gained from criminal police activities. Therefore, the following Reichszentralen were attached to the RKPA (point letter j was not included in this publication):
- a) the Reich recognition service center with
- aa) the Reichsnachrichtenzentrale
- bb) the imperial manuscript collection
- cc) the Reich Central Office for Registration
- b) Reich Central Office for Combating Counterfeiting
- c) Reich Central Office for Combating Drug Offenses
- d) Reich Central Office for Missing and Unknown Persons
- e) Reichszentrale to combat lewd pictures, writings and advertisements
- f) Reich Central Office for Combating International Trafficking in Girls
- g) Reich headquarters for combating international pickpockets
- h) Reich Central Office for Combating Gambling and Cheating
- i) Reich headquarters for combating the gypsy insurgency
- k) Reich Central Office for Combating Capital Crimes (Murder, Fire, Disasters)
- l) Reich headquarters to combat traveling and commercial fraudsters and forgers
- m) Reich headquarters for combating traveling and commercial burglars
(2) The centers in the RKPA were referred to as Reichszentralen in the future.
(3) The central office for missing and unknown dead persons at the Dresden State Criminal Police Office was dissolved. This agency handed over their recorded messages to the Reich Central Office for Missing and Unknown Persons in Berlin.
(4) A special decree was announced for the gypsy police station at the police headquarters in Munich with regard to affiliation with the RKPA (this special decree was issued on May 16, 1938 (RMBliV 1938, p. 883, Mitteilungsblatt A, p. 72) and came from the Reichsführer SS and Chief of the German Police ).
(5) The following centers were newly established in the RKPA:
- Reichszentrale for combating traveling and commercial fraudsters and forgers
- Reich headquarters for combating traveling and commercial intruders
- Reich Central Office for Combating Capital Crimes
(6) The construction of these new centers should be regulated in a special decree.
(7) The Reichszentralen should continue their previous mode of operation. All reports to the Reich headquarters should be made in accordance with the previous regulations and templates. If the newly established Reichszentrale did not have any regulations for the reports sent to them, the RKPA had to take the necessary measures.
(8) The RKPA should be in close contact with criminal police practice. In connection with the activities of the Reichszentralen, the RKPA should carry out enforcement services in the fight against international and commercial criminality as well as habitual and instinct criminals. The RKPA detective officers were authorized to carry out police acts within the scope of their jurisdiction in the Reich.
(9) All foreign correspondence, with the exception of local border traffic, should be routed through the RKPA. Only in so-called urgent cases were subordinate agencies allowed to directly exchange correspondence with other countries. However, one copy had to be sent to the RKPA at the same time.
IV. Paragraph
The criminal authorities listed in the annex to this circular used the designations Kriminalpolizeileitstelle or Kriminalpolizeistelle in all German states .
a) (1) the control centers listed in the annex replace the existing state criminal (police) offices or offices. There was no change in their organizational affiliation. The technical supervision of the criminal police and local criminal police continued. The delimitation of their service areas was regulated in the annex to this circular.
(2) The name of the agency was: State Criminal Police - Criminal Police Headquarters ...-
(3) The criminal police control centers had the task of ensuring the connections between the RKPA and the criminal police offices and between them. In addition, they should monitor these subordinate departments during criminal police activities and check the equipment and training of the officers working there. If there were criminal offenses that extended over several districts of the criminal police, the responsible control center had the task of advising, instructing and helping in the fight. If there were particularly important criminal cases, the control center should manage the fight centrally. The existing files and collections, which were created in accordance with the previous provisions and related to the offenses and offenders in the previous area, were kept by the control center. The RKPA determined the details. The control centers had to evaluate the reports to the RKPA and to forward the results of the evaluation to the RKPA immediately.
(4) In one district, a criminal police control center was also considered a criminal police station.
b) (1) The criminal police continued to be affiliated with the existing police administrations. The official name was: Staatliche Kriminalpolizei - Kriminalpolizeistelle ...
b) (2) In the associated local districts, the criminal police control centers had to deal with criminal police matters. They also had to carry out their criminal investigation activities there. The prescribed reports to the RKPA and the assigned Reich headquarters were to be submitted by the criminal police control centers.
b) (3) In the case of criminal offenses that were large in scope, were highly publicized or difficult to prosecute, the criminal police should seek support and advice from the criminal police control centers. If necessary, the criminal police control centers had to forward relevant applications to the RKPA.
(c) (1) There should be no changes in these contexts in the procedures for the municipal police and the gendarmes for criminal investigation activities .
(c) (2) The detective officers provided for in the Prussian administrations of the municipal police remained in terms of salary (in the circular, the term is used in terms of budget . Before that, however, the circular had already referred to salary in this context), no. 33 of the circular of October 2, 1930 - II 2330 I / III / 29 (MBliV. 1930, p. 877) directly subordinated to the police administrator.
V. paragraph
The date of entry into force of October 1, 1936 was announced for this circular.
Secret edict
With a decree of October 10, 1936, the Reich Central Office for Combating Homosexuality and Abortion was also founded. This decree was not published in the Reichsministerialblatt der internal administration (RMBliV), but was sent to all state and criminal police offices .
Supplementary decree to the circular
With the date of January 12, 1937, a supplementary decree (RMBliV. 1937, p. 98) was issued to this circular, which determined the designation of the state criminal departments that were not criminal police or police control centers. In paragraph II of this supplementary decree, the following was stipulated:
If the state police administrations had criminal police departments that were not criminal police stations or criminal police control centers, the designation was: State criminal police - the police president (police director) in ... - criminal department