Federal Criminal Police Office (Germany)


The Federal Criminal Police Office of Germany is the federal investigative police agency of Germany, directly subordinated to the Federal Ministry of the Interior. It is headquartered in Wiesbaden, Hesse, and maintains major branch offices in Berlin and Meckenheim near Bonn. It has been headed by Holger Münch since December 2014.
Primary jurisdiction of the agency includes coordinating cooperation between the federation and state police forces, investigating cases of international organized crime, terrorism and other cases related to national security as well as providing protection to members of constitutional institutions and federal witnesses. When requested by the respective state authorities or the federal minister of the interior, it also assumes responsibility for investigations in certain large-scale cases. Furthermore, the Attorney General of Germany can direct it to investigate cases of special public interest.

History

The Federal Criminal Police Office was established in 1951, and Wiesbaden, in the State of Hesse, was designated as its seat.
The German police in general is – by definition of the German constitution – organized at the level of the states of the federation. Exceptions are the Federal Police, the Federal Criminal Police Office and the German Parliament Police. Because of historic reasons all these federal police forces have a specific and limited legal jurisdiction. This is because after World War II, it was decided that there should not be another all-powerful police force like the Reich Security Main Office.

Missions

The formation of the BKA is based on several articles of the German constitution, which give the federal government the exclusive ability to pass laws on the coordination of criminal policing in Germany.
The jurisdictions of the BKA are defined in the :
  • Investigation and threat prevention in cases of national and international terrorism.
  • Investigating the international trade with narcotics, arms, munitions, explosives and internationally organized money-laundering and counterfeiting.
  • Investigating crimes when a state public prosecutor, a state police force or the state's interior minister, the federal public prosecutor or the Federal Ministry of the Interior task the BKA with a criminal investigation.
  • Personal protection of the constitutional bodies of Germany and their foreign guests, e.g. the President of Germany, Parliament of Germany, Cabinet of Germany, Federal Constitutional Court and other institutions), the BKA also investigates major crimes against these institutions.
  • Protection of federal witnesses.
  • Investigating crimes against critical infrastructures in Germany.
  • Coordinating cooperation between the federal and state police forces and with foreign investigative authorities.
  • Coordinating the cooperation with international law enforcement agencies like the FBI. The BKA is also the national central bureau for Europol and Interpol. Additionally, the BKA provides liaison officers for over 60 German embassies worldwide, who work with local law enforcement agencies.
  • Collecting and analyzing criminal intelligence as a national crime office.
  • Providing IT-Infrastructure for German law enforcement agencies, e.g. police databases, Schengen Information System, Automated Fingerprint Identification System, Anti-Terror-Database.
  • Providing assistance to other national and international law enforcement agencies in forensic and criminological research matters.
  • Acting as a clearing house for identifying and cataloging images and information on victims of child sexual exploitation, similar to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in the United States.

    Organization

Since its establishment in 1951, the BKA's number of staff has grown substantially. This has notably been driven by the fight against the left-wing terrorism in the 1970s and the internationalization of crime in the decades thererafter. Thus its structure has been undergoing constant reorganized. The last major reform was implemented in July 2016 and resulted in the structure described below.
The BKA is currently organized in eleven divisions. The President of the BKA is supported by its staff in the so-called "Leitungsstab" :

Staff LS – Management


  • Office of the BKA-President and the Vice-Presidents
  • Press and media relations
  • Law enforcement advisement, situation reporting
  • Strategic affairs
  • Resources, organization
  • National cooperation

    Division ZI – Central Information Management


  • 24/7 Operations Center
  • Language and Translation Service
  • Information and data services, police records administration
  • Law enforcement information and message exchange
  • Security screening / vetting
  • Identification services
  • * Automatic Fingerprint Identification System
  • * DNA-Analytics Database
  • * facial recognition system
  • * Identikit pictures
  • Fugitive and search services
  • * Common search, public search/manhunt
  • * Schengen Searches
  • * Interpol Searches
  • * Target searches, manhunt

    Division ST – State Security




The Protection Group protects the members of Germany's constitutional bodies and their foreign guests and is often the most visible part of the BKA. Specially selected and trained officers with special equipment and vehicles provide round-the-clock personal security to those they protect. The Protection Group is now headquartered in Berlin.

Division OE – Operational Mission and Investigative Support


  • Technical Operational Service
  • * Technology monitoring, logistics
  • ** Analysis of technologies
  • * IT-Forensics
  • ** Case and mission support, e.g. at crime scenes and while conducting search warrants
  • ** Securing and processing of digital evidence
  • ** Research and development, live forensics
  • * Data analysis, Video Competence Center
  • * Technical Mission Support, development of technical equipment
  • Comptence Center for Information Technology Surveillance, Lawful interception
  • * Telecommunications Surveillance
  • * Information Technology Surveillance
  • Mobile Mission Commando
  • *Plain-clothes SWAT unit specialised in surveillance and apprehension of fugitives in mobile situations
  • *Central federal support group for major nuclear threat defense
  • Adviser and Negotiation Group, e.g. for hostage-takings in foreign countries
  • Witness protection program

    Division KT – Forensic Science Institute


  • Disaster Victims Identification Task Force
  • * The DVI-Team is an event driven organisation of mainly forensic specialists dedicated to identification of disaster victims. The DVI's past missions include several airplane crashes, the Eschede train disaster and the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake.
  • Crime scene unit
  • Bomb squad, explosive ordnance disposal and improvised explosive ordnance disposal, CBRN crime scenes
  • Research and development on crime scene procedures
  • Institution for technical and natural sciences, reporting for law enforcement, public prosecutors and courts
  • * Ballicstics, arson and explosion investigations
  • * DNA analytics, investigation of material and micro traces
  • * Analysis of handwritings and documents, voice recognition
  • * Central laboratory for physical, biological and chemical analysis, toxicology
  • * Digital electronics, data reconstruction, video, picture, signal and krypto analysis

    Division IT – Information Technology


  • Information and communication management
  • * common IT software, e.g. operation systems, office tools
  • * law enforcement databases, e.g. various INPOL databases, Europol, Schengen, anti-terror-database
  • * digital radio management, mobile communications

    Division IZ – International Coordination, Training and Research Center


  • EU and international cooperation, e.g. Europol and Interpol
  • Coordination of at German embassies
  • Consulting center for police legal questions, law enforcement and legal politics
  • Police training
  • * Common training, management
  • * Specialised criminal police training, police training
  • * International police training and logistics support
  • Institute of Law Enforcement Studies
  • * Federal University, Departmental Branch of the Federal Criminal Police
  • * Criminological and law enforcement research
  • ** Research and consulting center terrorism/extremism
  • ** Research and consulting center law enforcement statistics, dark field research
  • ** Research and consulting center cybercrime
  • ** Research and consulting center organized crime, economic crime, criminal prevention
  • Public relations, internet editorial staff