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Germany. The "regular" police is federalized to the state level. The former border force (Bundesgrenzschutz) is now called Bundespolizei but is still mostly bor
by omnibrain 9y ago
Germany. The "regular" police is federalized to the state level. The former border force (Bundesgrenzschutz) is now called Bundespolizei but is still mostly border force, protects the federal government, the railways and air infrastructure.
The Customs office (Zoll) is also a police on the federal level, responsible for customs (of course) but also federal taxes and illegal employment.
Then there ist the Federal Criminal Police Office (Bundeskriminalamt), which is the central criminal police but each state also has their own.
We also have the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Verfassungsschutz) but they are the domestic secret service and of course every state has its own domestic secret service...
The municipalities have, depending on the state they are in, forces they call police or "police office" but they are for code enforcement, public health and security, etc.
There is also a military police (Feldjäger) but they don't play a role in day to day life.
- detaro 9y agoWe also have the "Polizei im Bundestag", which is the police force for parliament. (It has a good reason to be separate: it's not under control of the government, but of the president of parliament)
- dom0 9y agoThe German constitution set forth that law enforcement is a matter of the states; no federal "general purpose" police may exist. Secret agencies and police may not be mixed (although some commenters liken the excessive powers of the Bundeskriminalamt to a secret police), for obvious reasons. Many other western countries don't have that separation in the first place; e.g. the FBI is quite clearly a secret police.