Federal Police (Germany)

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Federal Police Bundespolizei
Logo
Common name	Federal Police
Abbreviation	BPOL
Agency overview
Formed	16 March 1951 (73 years ago) (1951-03-16) as Bundesgrenzschutz, since 1 July 2005 named Bundespolizei
Employees	51,315 (1 September 2020)[1]
Annual budget	€4.729 billion (2021)[2]
Jurisdictional structure
Federal agency	Germany
Operations jurisdiction	Germany
General nature	Federal law enforcement Civilian police
Operational structure
Headquarters	BPOL-Präsidium, Potsdam
Police officers	42,885[1]
Civilians	8,430[1]
Agency executive	Dieter Romann, Präsident des Bundespolizeipräsidiums
Parent agency	Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community
BPOL-Direktions	9 • Bad Bramstedt covering Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern • Hanover covering Bremen, Hamburg and Lower Saxony • Sankt Augustin covering North Rhine-Westphalia • Koblenz covering Saarland, Rheinland-Pfalz and Hesse • Stuttgart covering Baden-Württemberg • Munich covering Bavaria • Pirna covering Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia • Potsdam covering Berlin and Brandenburg • Frankfurt International Airport • Fuldatal covering the Raid Police • Direktion 11 (Berlin) covering GSG9, Fliegergruppe and other special forces
Facilities
Motor vehicles	7,032[1]
Boats	3 (+1 on order) offshore vessels, 3 patrol boats[1]
Helicopters	94[1]
Service dogs	460[1]
Service horses	21[1]
Website
www.bundespolizei.de (German)

The Federal Police (Bundespolizei or BPOL) is the national and principal federal law enforcement agency of the German Federal Government, being subordinate to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community (Bundesministerium des Innern, für Bau und Heimat (BMI)). The Federal Police is primarily responsible for border protection and railroad and aviation/air security. In addition, the agency is responsible, among other tasks, for the protection of federal constitutional bodies. It provides the federal alert police and GSG 9 special police unit, which can also be used to support the federated states of Germany.^[3] Ordinary police forces, meanwhile, are under the administration of the individual German states (Bundesländer) and are known as the Landespolizei. In addition to the Federal Police, the Federal Criminal Police Office and the German Parliament Police exist as further police authorities at the federal level.

The Bundespolizei was named Bundesgrenzschutz (BGS) ("Federal Border Guard") until 2005, which at its foundation in 1951 had a more restricted role. The then BGS incorporated the former West German Railway Police (Bahnpolizei) (in 1992), formerly an independent force, and the East German Transportpolizei (in 1990). Prior to 1994, BGS members also had military combatant status due to their historical foundation and border patrol role in West Germany. In July 2005 the law renaming the BGS as the BPOL was enacted.