Federal Police (Germany)

The Federal Police is the national and principal federal law enforcement agency of the German Federal Government. It is subordinate to the Federal Ministry of the Interior and is responsible for land and maritime border control, law enforcement at airports and on the railway system, and the protection of federal institutions. Before 1 July 2005, the agency was known as the Bundesgrenzschutz.

Missions

The BPOL has the following missions:

Border security, to include passport control and the provision of coast guard services along Germany's of coastline.
Providing transportation security at international airports and on German railways.
Providing air marshals.
Providing counter-terrorism forces.
Providing the federal government's mobile response force for internal security events.
Protection of federal buildings such as Schloss Bellevue, the residence of the German Bundespräsident; they also protect the two highest German courts, both in Karlsruhe:
* The Federal Constitutional Court and
* The Federal Court of Justice
Supporting international police missions for the United Nations and EU in Kosovo, Sudan, Liberia, Afghanistan, Gaza Strip, Moldova and Georgia.
Providing in-house security for some German embassies.
Providing rescue helicopter service.

The Bundespolizei can also be used to reinforce state police if requested by a state government. The BPOL maintains these reserve forces to deal with major demonstrations, disturbances or emergencies, supplementing the capabilities of the State Operational Support Units. Several highly trained detachments are available for crisis situations requiring armored cars, water cannon or other special equipment.
BPOL investigators conduct criminal investigations only within its jurisdiction; otherwise the cases are referred to the appropriate state police force or to the federal criminal investigative agency, the Federal Criminal Police.
In addition, the Bundespolizei cooperates closely with German state executive authorities, such as prosecutor's offices in pursuing criminal investigations.

Restoration of border control tasking on all borders (2015)

On the night of 13 September 2015 Germany unilaterally reintroduced border controls, under emergency provisions of the Schengen Agreement, due to the 2015 European migrant crisis overwhelming Germany's available resources, law enforcement and otherwise.
The nominally temporary border controls were initially put in place just on the border with Austria, but by the following day they were being put in place at all borders with fellow EU members.
The same day, Austria and other EU members who were part of the Schengen Area began to put in place their own border controls in response to Germany's actions.
The new German border controls are to be primarily enforced both by the various Landespolizei of those German states that adjoin external borders, and in particular by the Bundespolizei.

Organization

The BPOL national headquarters in Potsdam performs all central control functions. Eight regional headquarters control the BPOL stations that conduct rail police and border protection missions. These areas of responsibility conform to the federal state boundaries which they did not do prior to 1 March 2008.
The regional headquarters are as follows:

Bad Bramstedt covering Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern as well as the North Sea and Baltic Sea as part of the German Federal Coast Guard.
Hanover covering Bremen, Hamburg and Lower Saxony.
Sankt Augustin covering North Rhine-Westphalia.
Koblenz covering Saarland, Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse.
Stuttgart covering Baden-Württemberg.
Munich covering Bavaria.
Pirna covering Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia.
Berlin covering Berlin and Brandenburg.

These regional headquarters each have an investigation department and a mobile inspection and observation unit. Moreover, they control the 67 BPOL stations which in turn control the Bundespolizeireviere or precincts located in places that require a 24-hour presence by BPOL officers.
A special Direktion is responsible for Frankfurt International Airport.
The central school for advanced and vocational training is in Lübeck and controls the six basic training schools in Swisttal, Neustrelitz, Oerlenbach, Walsrode, Eschwege and Bamberg. It is also in charge of the Federal Police Sport School in Bad Endorf and a competitive sport project in Kienbaum near Berlin. The sport school specialises in winter sport events and has trained many of Germany's top skiers and skaters such as Claudia Pechstein.
The Zentrale Direktion Bundesbereitschaftspolizei controls the mobile support and rapid reaction battalions located in Bayreuth, Deggendorf, Blumberg, Hünfeld, Uelzen, Duderstadt, Sankt Augustin, Bad Bergzabern, Bad Düben and Ratzeburg. The number of Bereitschaftspolizei companies increased in March 2008 from 28 to 29 comprising approx. 25 percent of Germany's police support units.

Strength

The Bundespolizei as at 1 September 2020 consists of 51,315 personnel:

34,670 are fully trained law enforcement officers
8,215 candidates
8,430 salaried civilian support personnel
BPOL Special Units

The following special units also exist:

The BPOL Aviation Group is subordinate to the Bundespolizei Direktion 11 in Berlin. It controls the five aviation squadrons around the country that operate the force's helicopters. These are located in Fuhlendorf, Blumberg, Fuldatal, Oberschleißheim and Sankt Augustin. Its duties include; border surveillance, monitoring installations belonging to German Rail, helping in serious accidents and disasters in Germany and abroad, searching for missing persons, searching for criminals on the run, supporting the police forces of the federal states, providing transportation for persons whose security is endangered, providing transportation for guests of the Federal government, supporting federal and state authorities, and providing air search and rescue services in coordination with the 12 air rescue centers throughout Germany.
The BFE+ units are a specialized division of regular BPOL arresting units. These units were organized after the 2015 Charlie Hebdo attacks in France with the aim of responding faster and with higher firepower to massive terrorist attacks. BFE+ units are decentralized and work as a first response force until the more specialized and centralized GSG9 arrive at the scene, and are equipped similarly to SEK units.
The GSG 9 counter-terrorism group is directly subordinate to the BPOL HQ.
The BPOL Information and Communications Center is now a department of the BPOL HQ in Potsdam.
Most special units of the Federal Police are subordinate to the unified command of Federal Police Directorate 11.
The water police stations with 16 patrol craft and helicopters are part of the German Federal Coast Guard and assigned to coastal BPOL stations. The watercraft include six offshore patrol vessels, e.g. those of the Bad Bramstedt class, and the large Potsdam class as well as a number of fast inshore vessels and one tugboat.
History

In 1951 the West German government established the Federal Border Protection composed of 10,000 men under the Federal Interior Ministry's jurisdiction. The force replaced allied military organisations such as the U.S. Constabulary then patrolling West Germany's borders. The BGS was described as a mobile, lightly armed police force for border and internal security despite fears that it would be the nucleus of a new German army. When West Germany did establish an army, the Bundeswehr, BGS personnel were given the choice of staying in the BGS or joining the army. Most decided to join the army.
In 1953, the BGS took control of the German Passport Control Service. In 1972 the Compulsory Border Protection Service was enacted by the parliament, which – in theory – is still in force, but suspended, similar to the conscription for the Bundeswehr. In 1976, the state police grades replaced the military rank structure and BGS training was modified to closely match that of the state police forces. The West German Railway Police, formerly an independent force, and the East German Transportpolizei were restructured under the BGS in 1990.
In July 2005, the BGS was renamed the Bundespolizei or BPOL to reflect its transition to a multi-faceted federal police agency. The change also involved a shift to blue uniforms and livery for vehicles and helicopters. The German Interior Ministry reviewed the structure of the BPOL in 2007 and in March 2008 made the structure leaner to get more officers out of offices and onto patrol.

Equipment

Vehicles

Today, German police forces generally lease patrol cars from a manufacturer, usually for a period of three years. Bundespolizei vehicles have number plates that are based on the BP XX-YYY system. BP stands for Bundespolizei. Older vehicles may still have the BGS "BG" plates.

Weaponry

This is the main weaponry utilized by the Federal Police:

Model

Type

Origin

Heckler & Koch P30

Semi-automatic pistol

Germany

Aircraft inventory

The Federal Police now has been reduced to three flight amenities pattern of 94 helicopters. This is the largest civilian helicopter fleet in Germany.

Aircraft	Type	Versions	In service
Eurocopter EC-120	training helicopter	EC 120	10
Eurocopter Super Puma	transport helicopter	AS 332 L1	19
Eurocopter EC 135	utility helicopter	EC 135	24
Eurocopter EC 155	transport helicopter	EC 155 B	19

In May 2024, it was announced that Airbus Helicopters will supply 38 new H225 Super Pumas to replace the 19 AS 332 and 19 EC 155 helicopters from 2025 onwards.