Water police in North Rhine-Westphalia
The North Rhine-Westphalia water protection police are part of the North Rhine-Westphalia police force . It is responsible nationwide for researching and prosecuting crimes on the waterways and in ports in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia . Its headquarters are in Duisburg , where it has been organized as a separate directorate of the Duisburg Police Headquarters since 2007 .
Beginnings of the water police
Up until the 20th century, the respective local police authorities were responsible for police duties on rivers and in harbors; there was not yet a separate water police . The resulting organizational and technical problems were also and especially noticeable in the Rhineland , where the Rhine has always played an immense role for the population and economy as one of the largest and busiest inland waterways. In 1919 the Reich Water Protection Police was founded, the very first Reich Police Authority, which in fact only existed in Prussia and Saxony. However, this Reich water protection police was not allowed to become active in the demilitarized Rhineland , so that the Prussian Rhine Police was created soon afterwards, which - similar to the Gendarmerie / Landjäger - took on security / criminal police tasks and was under the supervision of the Chief President and Minister of the Interior . In 1931 the Reich Water Protection Police was dissolved and its previous competencies were transferred to the states; in Prussia the corresponding police authority operated first as port and shipping protection police, then as water protection police. In 1937 the Prussian water police and the Prussian Rhine police (like the Baden, Bavarian and Hessian Rhine police) were again subordinated to the Reich.
The water police was practically non-existent in 1945 due to the effects of the war. The British occupying power waived - probably in view of the great importance of the Rhine rail for inland navigation and an only indirect involvement in Nazi crimes - on a final dissolution and instead initiated a rebuilding. Two water protection police groups were newly founded: Water police group Rhein (based in Cologne) with the water police sections A (Cologne) (water police stations Bonn, Cologne, Düsseldorf) and B (Duisburg) (water police stations Duisburg, Wesel, Emmerich) and the water police group Recklinghausen (from 1949 water police group Westdeutsche Canal) (based in Münster) with the water police sections Hanover (water police stations Minden, Bevergern, Braunschweig) and Recklinghausen (Herne, Essen-Dellwig, Henrichenburg, Dortmund). From 1947 onwards, the water police were directly subordinate to the Ministry of the Interior of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia and thus (in contrast to the municipal government district and city district police) represented a state police authority.
The water police as part of the North Rhine-Westphalian police
With the entry into force of the Police Organization Act of August 11, 1953, the entire police force was transferred to state supervision and the water police became a North Rhine-Westphalian district police authority along with 78 others. Your precise area of responsibility included all navigable waterways in North Rhine-Westphalia, along with the riverbanks and the ports, as well as generally all facilities that belonged to the waterways. In particular, this jurisdiction related to the Rhine, Ruhr , Weser (partly in Lower Saxony area), Ems , Rhine-Herne Canal , Wesel-Datteln Canal , Datteln-Hamm Canal , Dortmund-Ems Canal , Mittelland Canal ( partly in Lower Saxony) and Osnabrück branch canal (partly in Lower Saxony). In this police district, the water police had to monitor ship traffic and fight ship accidents, monitor the transport of dangerous goods, fight water pollution and, in conjunction with their own criminal police, prevent and solve crimes. (The own criminal police was a nationwide unique of the water police in North Rhine-Westphalia.)
Organizationally, the two water police groups Rhine and West German Canals were merged to form the North Rhine-Westphalia Water Police Directorate, which is based in Duisburg, the city with the largest inland port in Europe . A subdivision into two sections took place: water police section Cologne (with the water police stations Bonn , Grafenwerth , Cologne, Wesseling , Düsseldorf , Duisburg , Ruhrschleuse, Wesel , Emmerich ) and water police section Münster (with the water police stations Essen - Dellwig , Essen- Werden , Herne , Dorsten , Datteln , Dortmund , Münster, Bevergern , Bramsche , Minden , Petershagen ). Despite the responsibility of the Water Police Directorate in several administrative districts, only the District President in Düsseldorf acted as the supervisory authority.
In 1953, the water protection police responsibilities between the states of Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia were regulated by a state treaty , which in some places led to cross-border responsibilities. In 1955, the responsibilities of the North Rhine-Westphalia water protection police department and the federal water and shipping department were separated.
From 1953 to 1982 the water protection police department, from 1983 to 2006 the water protection police headquarters of North Rhine-Westphalia in Duisburg formed its own district police authority . Since 2007, the waterway police no longer has the status of an independent police authority, but is subordinate to the Duisburg Police Headquarters, where it forms its own directorate in addition to the usual central tasks, hazard prevention / deployment, crime and traffic. Below the Water Police Directorate there are local water police stations (in Bergeshövede , Bonn, Datteln, Düsseldorf, Duisburg, Emmerich, Essen, Cologne, Minden, Münster and Wesel) as well as the Central Criminal Police Office.
As of 2019, the WaPo in North Rhine-Westphalia has around 275 civil servants in 15 offices for monitoring 900 km of waterways between Duisburg, Bonn, Emmerich and Minden.
Responsibility of the water police
According to the current Water Police Ordinance of November 3, 2009, the Water Police is responsible for researching and prosecuting criminal offenses that take place in or on navigable waterways including tributaries, oxbow lakes, defensive arms, docks, lakes, islands and anything related to shipping Plant and equipment are committed. She is also responsible for researching and prosecuting environmental crimes. This responsibility extends to the entire state of North Rhine-Westphalia (as well as some waterways in Lower Saxony). The Wasserschutzpolizeidirektion does not have the status of a criminal main office , which is why it is not responsible for certain serious crimes, e.g. B. willful homicide, extortionate kidnapping or organized crime, even if these crimes are committed in their police district. In such cases, the criminal head office is responsible for the prosecution, in whose police district the water protection police crime scene is located.
management
Previous police chiefs of the NRW water protection police
- 1983–1986: Jakob Jülicher
- 1986–1993: Dierk Henning Schnitzler
- 1994-2006: Wolfgang Tiebel
Previous head of the Water Police Directorate (WSP) at the Duisburg Police Headquarters
- 2007–2011: Lutz Bauer
- 2011–2018: Wolfram Elsner
- since 2019: Björn Ekhoff
swell
The archival records of the North Rhine-Westphalia water police are kept in the Duisburg State Archives North Rhine-Westphalia Rhineland Department . Finding aid 217.20.03 currently contains files from the years 1937 to 2006.
literature
- Peter Bröhl: Water police in three epochs . On the history of the water police on the Rhine from 1920 to 1953 (= Villa ten Hompel currently 8), Frankfurt / Main 2006.
- Wasserschutzpolizeidirektion Duisburg (ed.): The Wasserschutzpolizei from 1919 to 1962, manuscript, Duisburg 1962.
Web links
- Police headquarters in Duisburg, Water Police Directorate
- Water Police Ordinance of November 3, 2009
Individual evidence
- ↑ New water police chief in Duisburg at the wheel. In: Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung Online. January 14, 2019, accessed August 10, 2019 .