Kriminalpolizei

Audio|De-Kriminalpolizei.ogg|Kriminalpolizei is the standard term for the criminal investigation agency within the police forces of Germany, Austria and the German-speaking cantons of Switzerland.

Germany

The Federal Republic of Germany divides police responsibilities between federal and state authorities. The state police or "Landespolizei" of the federal states perform the majority of investigations in Germany.

Within the "Landespolizei", the Criminal Investigation Department is known as the "Kriminalpolizei" or, more colloquially, the "Kripo" . The various "Kriminalpolizei" departments are organized according to state law and report, ultimately, to the Interior Ministry of their state. As the vast majority of police work is performed at state level, the "Kriminalpolizei" of the "Länder" conducts most criminal investigations in Germany.

The federal "Bundeskriminalamt", the German counterpart to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the investigative departments of the federal police, "Bundespolizei", have their own investigators but these are not normally referred to as "Kripo" or "Kriminalpolizei". It is technically possible to transfer from the federal police to the "Kripo", though in practice there is little demand for this.

"Kriminalpolizei" detectives investigate crimes and incidents and generally work in plainclothes. They collect evidence, interview victims and witnesses and question suspects. Detectives are also involved in the location of missing persons and the recovery of stolen property. Investigators may be assigned to precinct detective squads or one of dozens of specialized investigative units that have borough, citywide or regional jurisdiction.

"Kripo" candidates are mostly regular state police officers who have done well in police school and in their first years of street duty. After rigorous screening and examination, a small number are chosen to receive a technical education in criminology at a police college. Those completing the course then serve a three-year apprenticeship before attaining full status as an investigator.

Joint investigation teams are often formed with German Federal Police and customs investigators to combat drug smuggling or organised crime activities. Each state also has a state investigation bureau or "Landeskriminalamt", generally located in the state capital, to assist the "Kripo" in cases that require specialist forensic or investigative resources.

German police departments have separate "Staatsschutz" departments within the "Kripo" to investigate politically motivated crime. German intelligence agencies have no executive police powers. Their operatives are not authorized to carry out arrests, searches of premises, interrogations or confiscations. If they establish that judicial or police measures are required, they hand the matter over to the courts, public prosecutors or "Kripo" state security ("Staatsschutz") officers who decide independently what action is justified.

The Early Years

In 1799 six police officers were assigned to the Prussian "Kammergericht" (superior court of justice) in Berlin to investigate more prominent crimes. They were given permission to work in plainclothes, when necessary. Their number increased in the following years.

In 1811 their rules of service were written into the "Berliner Polizeireglement" (Berlin Police Regulations) and in 1820 the rank of "Kriminalkommissar" was introduced for criminal investigators. In 1872 the new "Kriminalpolizei" was made a separate branch of police service distinguishing it from the uniformed police called "Schutzpolizei".

Based on the experience with this new kind of police force, other German states - such as Bremen in 1852 - reformed their police forces and by the end of the nineteenth century the "Kriminalpolizei" had been established nationwide.

The Nazi Era (1933-1945)

The Nazi Party NSDAP was voted into office in January 1933 and soon began a programme of 'Nazification' Gleichschaltung of all aspects of German life, in order to consolidate its power indefinitely. In 1936 it was the turn of the "Kriminalpolizei," which was subordinated to the SS. In September 1939, a new Central Office for State Security, the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA), was created as the command organisation for the various state investigation agencies: the Kriminalpolizei ("Kripo") became Amtsgruppe V. It was commanded by Artur Nebe until 1944, when Nebe was denounced and executed after the failed attempt to kill Adolf Hitler in July 1944. In the last year of its existence, Amtsruppe V ( the Kripo) answered directly to Ernst Kaltenbrunner, the head of the RSHA.

The "Kriminalpolizei" were mostly plain-clothes detectives, working in conjunction with the "Ordnungspolizei",the uniformed branch. The policy directives came from the "SS-Hauptamt". The "Kripo" was organized in a hierarchical system, with central offices in all towns and smaller cities. These, in turn, answered to headquarters offices in the larger German cities which answered to the Central Office of the "Kriminalpolizei," considered a sub-office of the RSHA.

The "Kriminalpolizei" was mainly concerned with serious crimes such as rape, murder and arson. A main area of the group's focus was also on "blackout burglary," considered a serious problem during bombing raids when criminals would raid abandoned homes, shops and factories for any available valuables.

Many "Kripo" members were offered a full membership of the "Allgemeine-SS" with a parity SS rank but they also held their corresponding "Kripo" rank. Most "Kripo" detectives referred to themselves by police investigator titles such as "Kriminalrat," instead of SS or Orpo rank. The "Kripo" was also one of the sources of manpower used to fill the ranks of the "Einsatzgruppen" and several senior "Kripo" commanders, Artur Nebe among them, were assigned as "Einsatzgruppen" commanders.

Many Kripo officers were, if not anti-Nazis, then certainly politically "unreliable." Many Kripo refused to participate in crimes against humanity and even tried to mitigate the worst of Nazi atrocities. In one famous incident, Kripo officers tried to arrest the commander of Sachsenhausen concentration camp on charges of sadism. Their one witness was murdered, then they were escorted off the camp by armed guards.

In 1945, the occupying Allied Powers began their own programe of De-Nazification. It was understood that, in a totalitarian state, few people could participate in public service without being simultaneously members of the Nazi Party NSDAP. Party membership alone was not viewed as sufficient grounds for dismissal, but allegations of involvement or complicity in war crimes or crimes against humanity were investigated and any police official convicted was sentenced in the usual way. The Allied Powers felt the rule of law would be jeopardised by the mass-sacking of police officials who had served the Nazi state and that maintaining the continuity of a civilian and indigenous police force from the outset, together with all its accumulated practical skills and experience, was the most efficient way of restoring democracy to the German people.Thus the "Kriminalpolizei" adapted once more to the changes in oversight and accountability and, as with other public servants, took the political and economic change of the post-war years in its stride. The German experience might provide an interesting contrast with some latter-day models.

By contrast, the novel "Fatherland" is set in an alternate world, in which Germany has won the Second World War. It focuses around a central character (Xavier March) who is a Sturmbannführer in the office of the "Kriminalpolizei". The real-life Artur Nebe also figures in the novel, as an Obergruppenführer still serving as the commander of the "Kripo" some 20 years after the end of World War II.

witzerland

The responsibility for law and order in Switzerland basically lies with the cantons where the cantonal police ("Kantonspolizei") is responsible for investigations. [http://polis.osce.org/countries/details.php?item_id=72#Country_Profile_Section_328] The Swiss federal structure is reflected in a number of cantonal police services which are organized in different ways, but in the German-speaking cantons, the criminal investigation departments are generally known as "Kriminalpolizei."

ee also

*"Landespolizei"

References