Law enforcement agency

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A law enforcement authority , also an investigative authority , is an authority whose task and obligation it is to prosecute criminal offenses . The law enforcement authorities mainly include the public prosecutor's offices and the police (in Germany the state police , the federal police and the Federal Criminal Police Office ), but also the customs administration and, in the area of tax law, the financial administration with its tax investigation offices .

The law enforcement authorities apply the law of criminal procedure , i.e. primarily the code of criminal procedure in Germany . According to Section 152 (2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, they are bound by the principle of legality , which states that, in principle, every suspicion of a criminal offense must be investigated ex officio , without the authority having any discretion in this respect .

Law enforcement and police security

In addition to their job as a law enforcement agency, the police are also active in averting danger . A distinction must be made between hazard prevention on the one hand, the so-called preventive activity, and criminal prosecution , the so-called repressive activity, on the other. The prevention of danger is mainly based on the police laws of the federal states .

The police are usually the law enforcement authorities that first become aware of a suspected criminal offense, for example through a criminal complaint . It then has to investigate the facts as part of an investigation in accordance with § 163 StPO. Even if in practice the police investigate independently up to a certain stage of the procedure, this stage of the procedure is legally managed by the public prosecutor , who is authorized to issue instructions to a competent police force. In this respect, one speaks of the public prosecutor's office as the “mistress of the preliminary investigation”.

See also

Web links

Wiktionary: Law enforcement agency  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. Meyer-Goßner / Schmitt, Commentary on the Code of Criminal Procedure, 60th edition 2017, Rn. 2 to § 152 StPO