Special police
A special police is usually understood to be a police authority that is only responsible for a certain part of the police tasks.
Germany
Federal special police are understood to mean the authorities named in Section 6 of the Act on Immediate Compulsion in the Exercise of Public Authority by Federal Enforcement Officials. In detail these are
- the authorities with police officers (Federal Police, Federal Criminal Police Office, police at the German Bundestag)
- the federal customs administration and the federal tax authorities, insofar as they are entrusted with enforcement tasks,
- the Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration,
- the Federal Office for Goods Transport.
In a broader sense, all authorities and state institutions that deal with the maintenance or restoration of public safety and order are a police authority. Special police are thus also about the air traffic control , the former railway police and the fire brigade .
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, Special Police may have powers under the following laws:
- Serious Organized Crime and Police Act 2005
- Police, Public Order and Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2006
- Police and Justice Act 2006
In contrast to the so-called Territorial Police , their area of responsibility is limited to either a specific legal area or a specific geographical area, which does not always have to be legally defined. For example, the Ministry of Defense Police is responsible for all sites that are used by the Ministry of Defense without any prior determination.
Special police forces are (the area of responsibility is given in brackets):
- British Transport Police (railroad)
- Civil Nuclear Constabulary (non-military nuclear facilities and non-military transport of radioactive material)
- Ministry of Defense Police ( Ministry of Defense facilities, military personnel, defense interests, nuclear weapons and radioactive material for nuclear weapons)
- Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency (formerly Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency)
- Port of Dover Police (Port of Dover, Kent)
- Port of Liverpool Police (Ports of Liverpool, Bootle, Birkenhead and Ellesmere, Eastham Dock and Freeport, Manchester Ship Canal, as far as in North West England) The Port of Liverpool Police is part of the Ministry of Transport.
- Port of Tilbury Police (Port of Tilbury as far as minor crime is involved. All other matters are handled by Essex Police as Territorial Police.)
In this context, however, it must be stated that only the first four authorities are special police forces in the legal sense, while the definition applies to the other authorities, but this was not established on a legal basis.
The Serious Organized Crime Agency (only responsible in Wales and England) is not a special police force. However, police officers are seconded to her by various police authorities.
As a rule, officers of the special police only have powers if they are either on the premises for which they are responsible or if a situation is related to the legal area of their authority. They also have police powers if a territorial police or one of their officers asks for help or if there is imminent danger and the arrival of the territorial police cannot be awaited.
Special constables are not necessarily members of a special police, but volunteers or part-time police officers of a territorial or special police force.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Thomas Würtenberger and Dirk Heckmann, Police Law in Baden-Württemberg, CF Müller, 2005