Law enforcement in Austria

In Austria, law enforcement is the responsibility of the Directorate General for Public Security, a subdivision of the Federal Ministry of the Interior located at Herrengasse 7 in Vienna. Over 20,000 police officers are on duty in the Federal Police at more than 1,000 police stations. On lakes and rivers the federal police has over 70 boats and other craft to act as the water police.

Law enforcement agencies

The Ministry of the Interior is responsible for:

Judicial Guard : responsible for running prisons and providing security at court facilities

In general, the nine States of Austria do not operate state law enforcement agencies, except in their specific areas of competence, namely nature conservation and wildlife protection.

Tyrol
*Tyrolean Mountain Guards enforce conservation and wildlife protection laws in the state of Tyrol.
Salzburg
*Salzburg Mountain & Nature Guards enforce conservation and wildlife protection laws in the state of Salzburg.

Some Austrian municipalities operate a form of municipal law enforcement agency. In some municipalities, this is known as the City Police, or sometimes Community Police or Community Security Guard. In others, responsibility for policing lies with the federal government and municipalities cannot call these agencies "police", instead naming them "order offices", similar in function to a bylaw enforcement officer or code enforcement. In some cases, these organisations are established as private corporations, owned by the municipality, such as the Security Service Limited of Linz.

Police officers in Austria must meet certain requirements. These requirements include being at least 18 years of age, Austrian citizenship, an ability to act, impeccable reputation, Class B driver's licence, if conscripted to the armed forces, to have completed that conscription, and a swimming badge to prove swimming ability.