Germany
| Author | Thomas Feltes |
| Pages | 423-430 |
Page 423
Official country name: Federal Republic of Germany
Capital: Berlin
Geographic description: Located in Central Europe and bordering on the Baltic and the North Seas
Population: 82,431,390 (est. 2005)
The first organized police forces in Germany date back to the early nineteenth century, when Napoléon Bonaparte's idea, to establish a Gendarmerie Nationale in France, was adopted by some German kingdoms. After World War II the German police was under the supervision of the military regional governments of the Allies. With the new German constitution of 1949 and the foundation of eleven states in the early 1950s in West Germany, these states got the power to establish their own police forces. In East Germany (under the Soviet government) a central police force was established.
The former People's Police (Volkspolizei) of the Democratic Republic was dissolved on unification, and its members (after checking their involvement in the former Stasi organization) have been integrated into the police force of the so-called new states. The Ministry for State Security, popularly known as Stasi, the offices of which had been stormed in popular uprisings and whose files had been removed into Western custody, was dissolved.
The police are part of the executive force. This is ruled in article 20(3) of the German constitution (legislation concerning separation of power). Each of the (now after the reunification in 1990) sixteen German states has its own police law and its own police force (furthermore, there is a federal border police, the Bundeskriminalamt, as a federal investigation agency, and the federal customs). The police laws of the sixteen states deal with the prevention of crime, the preservation of public security and order, and the warding off of impending danger. Further police tasks arise out of the criminal procedure code, which deals with prosecution of crimes as well as laws arising out of or existing next to it. The criminal justice code applies to the whole Federal Republic. The authorities and officials of the police force must investigate crimes and take all measures necessary to prevent a crime from being covered. This principle of legality is the most unique regulation: the police as neither an institution nor the police officer him- or herself is allowed to dismiss a case. This is possible only by the office of the public prosecutor, where every case has to be reported. According to the criminal justice code, the police are assistant public officials to the state
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attorney's office. The public prosecutor is solely responsible for prosecution of crimes. However, individual measures (e.g., arrests, searches, and impoundments) can be authorized by the police if there is no time to contact a public prosecutor or a judge. The attorney of state also may give orders to the police. In most investigations (especially concerning minor and medium crime), however, the necessary measures are taken without the cooperation of the state attorney; the case is merely sent to the state attorney office, once the police investigations are completed. The state attorney makes the decision on whether or not to prosecute the case.
There is no nationwide German police force, and law enforcement remains a province reserved to the sixteen different states. Each state maintains its own force, where both patrol police (uniformed) and detectives (plainclothes) are working together in the same force. The uniformed or patrol police deal mainly with general public security functions, with traffic problems and accidents, and with minor crimes. Detectives or criminal investigation police are responsible for all other crimes. The total number of police officers on duty (patrol police, detectives, and border police) was 266,000 in 2002, resulting in one officer for 330 inhabitants. Considering the shift system, illness, training, administrative tasks in ministries, and so on, the "real" number is between one officer available for between 8,000 and 10,000 inhabitants at a given moment.
The Federal Crime Agency (Bundeskriminalamt; BKA) assists the federal and state units as a clearing agency regarding criminals and criminal actions. Federal officers investigate certain actions, however, notably those inimical to the security of the state or criminal actions that transcend the confines of any given state.
The German Border Guard (Bundesgrenzschutz), as the BKA under the Federal Ministry of Interior, is responsible for identification checks and policing the borders (especially at train stations, airports, and streets, crossing the border). Since some years, this institution is cooperating more and more with the state police forces, for example, in patrolling train stations and areas close to streets and shopping areas. What is called Sicherheitspartnerschaft (security partnership) is in the light of the German constitution a difficult undertaking, because the constitution separates the state administration (of which, the police are a part) forces from the federal administration (the federal police forces). A police officer of a given state is not allowed to cross the border to another (German) state. He or she has to call police force colleagues of the respective state; only in a case of emergency can he or she cross the boarder. Furthermore, he or she is not allowed to use firearms or to arrest an offender.
The responsibilities and powers of the BKA are regulated by law. The mandate is defined in the German constitution and in the BKA law. The headquarters of this federal agency are in Wiesbaden. The BKA is subordinate to the Federal Ministry of the Interior. As the central police agency in Germany, the BKA has the task of coordinating crime suppression at the national and international levels. All official communications between the German police and other countries are routed through the BKA. The BKA investigates outstanding cases of international crime as defined by law either on its own initiative or whenever a public prosecutor's office puts it in charge of such investigations because of the significance of the criminal offense in question. The BKA is also responsible for protecting the members of the constitutional organs of the federation. The BKA serves as the international criminal police force of the Federal Republic of Germany, which means that the BKA is responsible for investigations and searches involving many cases in the field of international organized crime. In 2002 a total of 4,509 people worked in the BKA.
Nearly, but not all unlawful (criminal) acts dealt with by the police, including attempts subject to punishment, are recorded in the police crime statistics. Drug offenses handled by the customs authorities are also included. Breaches of regulations and road traffic offenses are not covered. In addition, offenses committed outside the Federal Republic of Germany and offenses against the criminal laws of the individual German states are not included. Offenses by children, who cannot be held responsible under criminal law because of their age, and by mentally ill people, who also cannot be held responsible under criminal law, are included as well. The statistics are prepared by the BKA. The Police Crime Statistics Yearbooks since 1997 and the corresponding tables of time-series data starting in 1987 are published on the BKA homepage (http://www.bka.de). The data provided by the sixteen State Criminal Police Offices are presented in the form of tables and graphics along with commentaries. In 2002, 6,507,394 cases were recorded in the Federal Republic of Germany. The offense rate (number of cases per 100,000 inhabitants) for 2002 was 7,893. Although the number of theft cases has decreased continuously during the last years, theft still dominates the overall crime statistics with a share of about 47 percent.
On average, about half of all crimes are solved, but the rate of resolution varies substantially between individual areas of crime. The resolution rate for breaking into and stealing cars is about 10 percent, while for murder and manslaughter it...
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