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; counterterrorism; the protection of members of the constitutional institutions, and of 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 Main Security 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 :
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 nine divisions. The President of the BKA is supported by its staff in the so-called "Leitungsstab" :

Staff LS – Management






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






The BKA is part of several joint centers and platforms for combatting crime:
For special cases the BKA creates task forces, which are called "Besondere Aufbauorganisation". These task forces can integrate personnel from different divisions and state police forces as well. On some occasions international police forces participate too.

Personnel

General structure

The BKA currently employs more than 5,500 people. More than 2,600 are police officers of various ranks including upper management. Furthermore, the BKA has more than 600 civil servants. Another 2,000 employees work for the BKA as scientists and academics.
The BKA received more than 1,000 additional job positions in 2017.

Recruitment

The BKA recruits its personnel through different procedures: The civilian personnel is recruited similar to private companies.
Potential police officers are recruited in a longer process. They have to pass a written and oral exam, a sport test, a medical examination and security screening.

Police training

After the police officer applicants pass the mentioned exams, they study at the Federal University for three years at different locations. While studying they also receive traditional police training like martial arts, shooting, basic driving and crime scene investigation.
During their studies the police candidates complete an 8-month internship at a local state police office and an 8-month internship in several investigative, support and analysis units of the BKA.

Police ranks

The BKA has the same rank structure as the other police forces in Germany. As a criminal police branch, the different ranks are preceded by the description "Kriminal-". The uniformed police forces normally have the description "Polizei-" like "Polizeikommissar". The rank of police candidates or recruits is "Kriminalkommissaranwärter ". The entry level after finishing the three year studies is "Kriminalkommissar", meaning Detective Inspector. The criminal police ranks are divided into the "Gehobener Dienst" and "Höherer Dienst". The upper service is the investigative level of the BKA. The higher service could be described as the middle management of the BKA. To enter the higher service members of the upper service have to pass an additional exam. After passing the test and acception for the higher service, these recruits have to study an additional two years at police university in Münster. The higher service can also be entered by external, non-police personnel from selected academic fields.
Upper ServicePaygradeHigher ServicePaygrade
KriminalkommissarA9KriminalratA13
KriminaloberkommissarA10KriminaloberratA14
KriminalhauptkommissarA11KriminaldirektorA15
KriminalhauptkommissarA12Leitender KriminaldirektorA16
Erster KriminalhauptkommissarA13

Leadership

The BKA is headed by three top executives, a president and two vice-presidents, which in German BKA-lingo are referred to as "Amtsleitung", to be translated into 'management of the agency'.
The president of the BKA is a political civil servant, who is appointed by the President of Germany upon recommendation from the Minister of the Interior and the cabinet. He or she can be provisionally retired by the federal president, as stipulated in §54 of the Law on Federal Civil Servants. The post is graded as B9 in the payscale for federal civil servants.
His or her vice-presidents, who to this day have mostly been career officials from the ranks, are in the B6 paygrade.

Presidents

Firearms

BKA police officers are equipped with the SIG Sauer P229 as a duty firearm. Selected units are also equipped with Heckler & Koch MP5 machine pistols. Additionally the police officers are equipped with pepperspray and bulletproof vests.
The special mission unit MEK is equipped with Glock pistols, Heckler & Koch MP5 and other weapons. The Protection Group is also allowed to carry additional military-grade weapons, e.g. the ASE unit or the protection details.
The use of these weapons and force in general is controlled by a special law, the :de:Gesetz über den unmittelbaren Zwang bei Ausübung öffentlicher Gewalt durch Vollzugsbeamte des Bundes|UZwG.
BKA police officers are authorized to carry their duty firearms concealed while off-duty.

Vehicles

The Protection Group of the BKA utilizes armoured cars from different manufacturers for their protection mission, e.g. like Mercedez-Benz W221, Audi A8 L or BMW.

Cases and Investigations