page_title: Law enforcement in Germany
section_title: State Police Forces
hierarchical_section_title: Law enforcement in Germany / State agencies / State Police Forces
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Streifenwagen der Hamburger Polizei in neuer blau-silberner Farbgebung. Fotografiert an der Davidwache. English: German Police Patrol car in new blue-silver livery in front of the famous Davidwache in Hamburg.
context_page_description: Law enforcement in Germany is constitutionally vested solely with the states, which is one of the main features of the German political system.
  Policing has always been a responsibility of the German states even after 1871 when the country was unified. The 1919 constitution of the Weimar Republic did provide for the possibility of creating a national police force, should the necessity arise, but it was only in the Nazi era that state police forces were unified under central control and a national police force created. The police became a tool of the centralized state and the Nazi party.
  Following the defeat of 1945, Germany was divided; in 1949 the three western zones were turned into the West Germany, the Soviet zone became East Germany. Each country pursued a different path concerning law enforcement.
  In light of the gross misuse of power by the centralized Nazi state, the new West German constitution provided a strict separation of powers, placing law enforcement firmly in the hands of the states.
context_section_description: The German states are responsible for managing the bulk of Germany's police forces. Each state has its own police force known as the State Police (German: Landespolizei). Each state promulgates a law which lays down the organisation and duties of its police (Landespolizeigesetz or Sicherheits- und Ordnungsgesetz).
  Although the state police forces are regulated by sixteen different legislatures and are, in fact, different police forces, there has been an increasing tendency toward standardization of police activities nationwide. Concerns about terrorism and the growth of organized crime have strengthened the movement to centralize police procedures and operations. The idea of creating one single police code for the whole of Germany (allgemeines Polizeigesetz) came up in the 1960s but never passed.
  These forces are organized by cities, towns, or rural communities, but all are integral components of the police forces of the state in which they are located. The respective state minister of interior supervises police operations in his or her jurisdiction. Although the internal organizations differ somewhat, all state police are divided into the Protective Police (German: Schutzpolizei / SchuPo), a uniformed service carrying out routine law and order duties, and Criminal Police Office (German: Kriminalpolizei / almost always abbreviated with KriPo), who carry out criminal investigations. The separate Administrative Police formerly had duties that included the registration of residents and the issuance of passports, identity cards, and various permits. These functions have been transferred to civil state government departments (Einwohnermeldeamt—Resident registration office) in all states.
  The uniforms and vehicle colour schemes of the state police forces are different, but somewhat similar all over Germany, the state police forces are structured differently in each state as well. For example, in some states the Kripo can be part of the ordinary police force, in some states it is organized separately.
  The idea of using the same colour for police uniforms and vehicles throughout the European Union has been realized in all German state police forces and the federal police. All vehicle liveries and uniforms changed from white/green to silver/blue until 2018. The basic silver colour for vehicles in the most states, is actually increasing the resale value and thus lowers leasing costs. The uniforms already have been changed by all state police forces and the federal police from the green/beige version introduced in 1979 to blue ones. Hamburg was the first state to make the transition, Bavaria the last state, finishing the replacement of the green/beige uniforms in 2018.
caption: Police cars in Hamburg (2006).
exif: {}