The Essentials of Germany Law Enforcement

When we think of law enforcement, we think about the things they do for us such as, how they protect and keep us safe, and maintain order in the community, and interact within the community. The main point we don't realize sometimes about the law enforcement, they are citizens just like us. They may be wearing a uniform and have the power to arrest you, they are also your neighbors and community members. In Germany, the police are just like officers in the United States, they wear uniforms to recognize themselves as law enforcement, and they try to keep peace within the States and the entire country of Germany. Not many people know about the history of law enforcement systems, rather they just know why they are there and what they can and cannot do.

Germany never really had an "official" police force until the mid-1930s, but before there were several advances in making legal codes. By 1871, after political unification from Prussian power, German legal codes begin to come into existence. The codes that were implemented were somewhat influenced by the Napoleonic Code. The first and most important code was the Penal Code of 1871 which applied three classes of imprisonment that are still in use today: procedural codes of 1877, law of 1877 establishing a unified court system, and the comprehensive Civil Code of 1900. "The police and penal authorities saw their positions as servants of the state as overshadowing any obligation of service to the people" ("Germany Federal Police Agencies"). Adolf Hitler rose to power and on June 16, 1936, the first unified police force was created. The government has been established for the country of Germany, but the police force is fairly new and have yet to reach the centennial mark in existence. The Federal Border Force (Bundesgrenzschutz- BGS) was formed in 1951, which was the "first federal police organization permitted by the Allied occupation authorities" ("Germany Federal Police Agencies").

Though the German law enforcement system has not been around long, it clearly appears that Germany looked at the United States law enforcement system for guidance to get on the right path after Hitler. In Germany they have the C.I.D. (criminal investigation department), which is concerned with serious offences like organized and industrial crime, sexual offences, robbery, blackmail, serious theft, homicide, drug trafficking and the manufacture and passing of counterfeit money. They have special units, in some cases jointly with the general forces, to combat terrorism and hostage taking. We can compare this group of people to our everyday police detectives, because they investigate these same crimes everyday. The Germans group is more like the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) group to because of the name they have and the ways they treat these crimes. Even the more serious offences in the United States are most of the time started out being investigated by local police and then passed to the FBI or a higher grade of investigators.

They have their own emergency police to help out with everything from major sporting events to natural disasters. This group also goes out and helps investigate with the C.I.D when they need help. The United States group that mostly compares to this group would be Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which is our natural response group. This group helps in many ways when asked to, but the only difference is FEMA does not help out with investigations.

The next group that is comparable to the United States would be The Waterways Police. These people travel the waters of Germany and try to watch the drug trafficking and any other illegal activity in the water, as well as keep people safe on the water. The United States agency that would be associated with The Waterways Police would be the United States Coast Guard. They patrol the waters of the United States and make sure there is no drug trafficking or illegal immigrants being transported in.

Another agency similar to United States is The Federal Border Guard, which is charged with domestic security tasks. The main task of the Federal Border Guard is to control the country's border, which includes checks to prevent the illegal entry of foreigners, organized crime, smuggling and drug trafficking. This group has the basic same tasks that the United States border patrol has and this job is very demanding and takes hours of commitment to try and stop the illegal actions on the borders of both countries.

When it comes to law enforcement in Germany and the United States, although they are very similar in some ways, there are several subtle differences that easily set them part and give each country a unique style of policing. These differences range from the basic organizational structure and requirements to become a law enforcement officer to differences in appearance, and even the ethical issues each police department faces. As a whole, these two law enforcement organizations would seem to be very similar but when studied closely they do in fact have several minute differences.

Organization is a key difference because the United States when compared to Germany is very disorganized. Germany enforces one national code of law and standards and divides the agencies into Federal and State with each having its own defined responsibilities. Jurisdiction and the on the job duties are given to the 16 state police agencies, one for each state. Germany unlike the United States does not have a Federal Police Force comparable to our F.B.I. however; the Federal agencies divide responsibilities into specific agencies such as the border guard and GSG-9 that each has their own job responsibilities that are not typical police work. In the United States law enforcement is significantly more complicated. It is divided into Federal, State, and Local agencies that derive powers from different sources and each has similar but different scale duties. Also, the laws carried out for each state and federal agencies could be different as each state is given the ability to make its own laws.