Baden-Württemberg Police numbers approx. 25,000 police officers and 7,000 civilian employees.
The four regional police authorities (called Landespolizeidirektionen in BW) are headquartered in Karlsruhe, Stuttgart, Freiburg and Tübingen. There is also a separate police authority for the city of Stuttgart. Following a police reform in 2005, the regional police authorities are now part of the regional government authorities (Regierungspräsidium). The autobahn and river police stations were reorganized from separate authorities and integrated into the respective local police departments.
In 2007, the state government decided that the Baden-Württemberg Police will also change to blue uniforms and patrol vehicles. The uniform change-over will occur between 2009 and 2011 to minimize the cost of the conversion.
Citizens also participate in public safety. This commitment to civic action is seen, for example, in the Volunteer Police program, where approx. 1,200 citizens voluntarily assist their local police in 20 towns. These volunteers are specially trained, wear uniforms and are armed. Their main duty is crime prevention: conducting walking patrols to deter street crime, patrolling near schools and kindergartens and maintaining contact with potential victims of crime and juvenile delinquents.
The Landeskriminalamt (State Investigation Bureau) was founded in 1952, is situated in Stuttgart and employs 520 officers and 430 civilian staff. Its missions are: witness protection, state security, SWAT (Spezialeinsatzkommando) team operations, undercover investigations, statistics, monitoring the development of crime, crime prevention, criminal investigations analysis, exchange of information with foreign countries and forensic science.
The Police Support Group HQ (Bereitschaftspolizeipräsidium) in Göppingen is the recruiting and training agency for the BW police and controls five rapid reaction companies (Bereitschaftspolizeiabteilungen) (BPA), the SWAT team and the state police band. The BPAs are situated in Bruchsal, Göppingen, Biberach, Lahr and Böblingen and have approx. 4,000 officers as the state’s mobile police reserve and school training staff.
There are eight river police stations in Baden-Württemberg along the Rhine and Neckar rivers and on Lake Constance. The aviation unit falls under LPD Stuttgart and has eight modern helicopters and one fixed wing aircraft based at Stuttgart Airport and Baden Airport near Söllingen. Two of the helicopters are EC 155 transport versions and six are MD 900/902 police operation models. Three are equipped with night-sun and video/night-vision equipment.
See also
External links
- Polizei.de (German)
- BW Police homepage (German)
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