Law enforcement in Germany is constitutionally solely vested in the states, which is one of the main features of the German political system. Therefore, unlike France, Italy, the United States, Canada or many other countries, Germany has no federal police force comparable to the Carabinieri, Police Nationale, FBI or RCMP. Police has always been a responsibility of the German states and was continued after 1871 when the country was unified. The constitution of the Weimar Republic 1919 eventually did provide for the possibility to create a national police force, should the necessity arise, but it was only in the Nazi era, that a national secret police force (Gestapo) was created and the state police forces were unified under a central leadership. The police became a tool of the centralized state and the Nazi party. Following the defeat of 1945, Germany was divided; in 1949 the three western zones were turned into the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany), the eastern zone became the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). Each country pursued a different path concerning law enforcement.

In light of the gross misuse of power by the centralized Nazi state the new constitution of the West Germany provided for a strict separation of powers, placing law enforcement firmly into the hands of the states. The only policing allowed on the federal level was border control (Bundesgrenzschutz including coast guard), controlled by the Ministry of Interior and originally organized along paramilitary lines, the Federal Criminal Police Office and the Police of the parliament.

East Germany created a new centralized police force under the Ministry of Interior, the paramilitary Volkspolizei. It also established a border police, initially an independent force, then integrated into the army and then reorganized as an independent military organization.

Tags: East Germany, Nazi Germany, West Germany, law