Primary jurisdiction of the agency includes coordinating cooperation between the federation and state police forces; investigating cases of international organized crime, terrorism and other cases related to national security; counterterrorism; the protection of members of the constitutional institutions, and of federal witnesses. When requested by the respective state authorities or the federal minister of the interior, it also assumes responsibility for investigations in certain large-scale cases. Furthermore, the Attorney General of Germany can direct it to investigate cases of special public interest.[4]
History
The Federal Criminal Police Office was established in 1951, and Wiesbaden, in the State of Hesse, was designated as its seat.
The formation of the BKA is based on several articles of the German constitution, which give the federal government the exclusive ability to pass laws on the coordination of criminal policing in Germany.
Investigation and threat prevention in cases of national and international terrorism.
Investigating the international trade with narcotics, arms, munitions, explosives and internationally organized money-laundering and counterfeiting.
Investigating crimes when a state public prosecutor, a state police force or the state's interior minister, the federal public prosecutor or the Federal Ministry of the Interior (Germany) task the BKA with a criminal investigation.
Investigating crimes against critical infrastructures in Germany.
Coordinating cooperation between the federal and state police forces (especially state criminal investigation authorities) and with foreign investigative authorities (in Germany the state police forces are mainly responsible for policing).
Coordinating the cooperation with international law enforcement agencies like the FBI. The BKA is also the national central bureau for Europol and Interpol. Additionally, the BKA provides liaison officers for over 60 German embassies worldwide, who work with local law enforcement agencies.
Collecting and analyzing criminal intelligence as a national crime office.
Since its establishment in 1951, the BKA's number of staff has grown substantially. This has notably been driven by the fight against the left-wing terrorism in the 1970s and the internationalization of crime in the decades thererafter. Thus its structure has been undergoing constant reorganized. The last major reform was implemented in July 2016 and resulted in the structure described below.[5]
The BKA is currently organized in eleven divisions. The President of the BKA is supported by its staff in the so-called "Leitungsstab" (which has not the status of a division):
Staff LS – Management
(in German: Stab LS – Leitungsstab)
Office of the BKA-President and the Vice-Presidents
Press and media relations
Law enforcement advisement, situation reporting
Strategic affairs
Resources, organization
National cooperation
Division ZI – Central Information Management
Wanted poster of the BKA
(in German: Abteilung ZI – Zentrales Informationsmanagment)
24/7 Operations Center
Language and Translation Service
Information and data services, police records administration
comprising a specialised unit for case-integrated financial investigations (VIVA), that also assumes the role of Asset Recovery Office Germany (police)[6] and a forensic auditing service (WPD)
Division SG – Protection Division
(in German: Abteilung SG – Sicherungsgruppe)
SG E (Operations)
Personal protection details (Protection of the German Chancellor and other cabinet members)
Foreign Dignitary protection (when invited by the federal government)
Mission support, internal organization and logistics
Tactical Operations Center
The Protection Group protects the members of Germany's constitutional bodies and their foreign guests and is often the most visible part of the BKA. Specially selected and trained officers with special equipment and vehicles provide round-the-clock personal security to those they protect. The Protection Group is now headquartered in Berlin.
Arrest presentation of the BKA MEK
Division OE – Operational Mission and Investigative Support
(in German: Abteilung OE – Operative Einsatz- und Ermittlungsunterstützung)
Technical Operational Service (TOS)
Technology monitoring, logistics
Analysis of (new) technologies (evaluation for law enforcement use and criminal potential)
Division TE - International terrorism, religious motivated extremism and terrorism
Established on November 1, 2019 the division TE consists of sections from the division ST who are tasked with the collection of information and investigations in the fields of terrorism, religious motivated extremism and jihadism.[7]
Division CC - Cybercrime
The division's main tasks lie in investigations in the fields of cybercrime and computer-oriented crime
Investigations against individuals and networks which target high-profile targets in Germany
Information gathering and analysis as assistance of ongoing investigations
Combating cyber-attacks against critical infrastructure and institutions of the German government
Consulting in the development of strategies and legal frameworks in combating cybercrime[8]
Joint Centres and Task Forces
The BKA is part of several joint centers and platforms for combatting crime:
The GTAZ was created in 2004 as a fusion center for 40 German law enforcement, intelligence and other public agencies who are tasked with combatting international jihadi terrorism. Its goal is to optimize and speed up communication between these agencies as a cooperation platform. The GTAZ is not an agency of its own. All participating agencies work under their own jurisdiction. It is located in Berlin.
The GTAZ has several working groups which focus on threat assessment, operational information exchange, case analysis, structural analysis and other topics.
Joint Terrorism and Extremism Prevention Centre (GETZ)[10]
The GETZ is a similar fusion center established in 2012. It was structured after the model of and parallel to the GTAZ. It is located in Cologne and focuses on politically-motivated crime like right and left-wing extremism and terrorism, espionage, proliferation and international terrorism (not including jihadi terrorism). The GTAZ is not an agency of its own. All participating agencies work under their own jurisdiction.
The GTAZ has several working groups which focus on threat assessment, operational information exchange and other topics.
National Cyber Threat Prevention Centre (NCAZ)[11]
The NCAZ is a fusion center focusing on cyber threat, their assessment and possible countermeasures. Like the GTAZ it is just a platform and not an agency of its own. It has no own jurisdiction.
Joint Analysis and Strategy Centre Illegal Migration (GASIM)
The GASIM is a federal information and communication center combatting illegal migration. It is administered by the Federal Police (former border patrol) and located at Potsdam.
The GIZ is a cooperation platform for evaluating and analysing jihadi terrorist propaganda on websites and social media channels. It should bring together the professional and technical expertise of the participating agencies. It is administered by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution.
The KIA is another cooperation platform for evaluating and analysing extremist and terrorist internet propaganda. It was created in 2012 after the model of the GIZ. At first it brought together the professional and technical expertise of the participating agencies in the field of right-wing extremism. It was a direct reaction to the discovery of the NSU murders.
Now and in contrast to the GIZ, KIA is divided into three platforms as further fields were added: KIA-R covers right-wing extremism and terrorism, KIA-L covers left-wing extremism and terrorism and KIA-A covers international politically-motivated crime (except jiadi terrorism).
For special cases the BKA creates task forces, which are called "Besondere Aufbauorganisation" (abbreviated: BAO). These task forces can integrate personnel from different divisions and state police forces as well. On some occasions international police forces participate too.
Personnel
General structure
Federal Criminal Police Office (Germany) number of employees (red) and budget in million euro (black)
The BKA currently employs more than 7100 people (as of July 2020). More than 3800 are sworn law enforcement officers of various ranks including upper management. Furthermore, the BKA has more than 1100 civil servants (e.g. analysts as well as administrative or technical personnel). Another 2200 employees work for the BKA as scientists (forensic and natural sciences) and academics (criminology and law enforcement research).[14]
The BKA received more than 1,000 additional job positions in 2017.
In the case of law enforcement officers, the BKA has employees in two career tracks of the German civil service. In the upper service (pay grades A9-A13g, comparable to military officer ranks up to Captain) or in the higher service (pay grades A13h and above, comparable to military staff officer ranks of Major and above). In contrast, some state police forces in Germany such as Bavarian State Police and the Federal Police also have lower level career tracks with only two years of training and lower entrance requirements).
Recruitment
The BKA recruits its personnel through different procedures: The civilian personnel (e.g. analysts, scientists, administrative personnel) is recruited similar to private companies.
Potential law enforcement officers are recruited in a longer process. They have to pass a written and oral exam (interview, group discussions, psychological test), a sport test (endurance, strength, reaction), a medical examination and security screening. Personnel of the upper service usually needs to have passed a university entrance qualification (usually Abitur or Fachabitur).
Law enforcement personnel in the career path of the higher service generally need to have passed a master's degree or a second state examination for direct recruitment. As a rule, the few directly recruited law enforcement officers for this career path are usually lawyers. However, a large proportion of the officers in the BKA's higher service career path are promoted law enforcement officers from the upper career path, who have proven themselves very well.
Police training
After the law enforcement officer applicants for the upper career path pass the mentioned exams, they study at the Federal University for Applied Administrative Sciences[15] (Departmental Branch of the Federal Criminal Police) for three years at different locations. While studying (law, criminal proceedings, constitutional law, criminology, police tactics, ethics) they also receive traditional police training like martial arts (Krav Maga, Jiu Jiutsu, Judo), shooting, basic driving and crime scene investigation. During their studies the police candidates complete an 8-month internship at a local state police office and an 8-month internship in several investigative, support and analysis units of the BKA.
Higher service personnel of the BKA study for two years at the German Police University in Münster (formerly the Police Command and Staff Academy). There they usually earn a Master of Arts degree in police management. They study together with the officers on the same career path of the Federal Police and the police forces of the federal states.[16]
Police ranks
Badge of a BKA police officerSpecimen of official BKA ID-badge
The BKA has the same rank structure as the other police forces in Germany. As a criminal police branch, the different ranks are preceded by the description "Kriminal-". The uniformed police forces normally have the description "Polizei-" like "Polizeikommissar". The rank of police candidates or recruits is "Kriminalkommissaranwärter (KKA)". The entry level after finishing the three year studies is "Kriminalkommissar", meaning Detective Inspector. The criminal police ranks are divided into the "Gehobener Dienst" (upper service) and "Höherer Dienst" (higher service). The upper service is the investigative level of the BKA. The higher service could be described as the middle management of the BKA. To enter the higher service members of the upper service have to pass an additional exam. After passing the test and acception for the higher service, these recruits have to study an additional two years at police university in Münster. The higher service can also be entered by external, non-police personnel from selected academic fields.
Criminal Police Ranks
Upper Service
Paygrade
Higher Service
Paygrade
Kriminalkommissar
A9
Kriminalrat
A13
Kriminaloberkommissar
A10
Kriminaloberrat
A14
Kriminalhauptkommissar
A11
Kriminaldirektor
A15
Kriminalhauptkommissar
A12
Leitender Kriminaldirektor
A16
Erster Kriminalhauptkommissar
A13
Leadership
The BKA is headed by three top executives, a chief (Präsident des Bundeskriminalamtes) and two vice-chiefs (Vizepräsidnet beim Bundeskriminalamt), which in German BKA-lingo are referred to as "Amtsleitung", to be translated into 'agency management'.
The chief of the BKA is a political civil servant, who is appointed by the President of Germany upon recommendation from the Minister of the Interior and the cabinet. He or she can be provisionally retired by the federal president, as stipulated in §54 of the Law on Federal Civil Servants.[17] The post is graded as B9 in the payscale for federal civil servants (which is the same as a lieutenant general or a vice admiral in the armed forces).
His or her vice-chiefs, who to this day have mostly been career officials from the ranks, are in the B6 paygrade.Anlage I BBesG - Einzelnorm
BKA police officers are equipped with the SIG SauerP229 as a duty firearm. Selected units are also equipped with Heckler & Koch MP5 machine pistols. Additionally the police officers are equipped with pepperspray and bulletproof vests.
The special mission unit MEK is equipped with Glock pistols, Heckler & Koch MP5 and other weapons. The Protection Group is also allowed to carry additional military-grade weapons, e.g. the ASE unit or the protection details (only revolvers are allowed in certain foreign countries).
The use of these weapons and force in general is controlled by a special law, the UZwG.
BKA police officers are authorized to carry their duty firearms concealed while off-duty.
Armoured car of the BKA Protection Group, used for the President of Germany
Vehicles
The Protection Group of the BKA utilizes armoured cars from different manufacturers for their protection mission, e.g. like Mercedes-Benz W221 (for the President of Germany), Audi A8 L or BMW.
^COUNCIL DECISION 2007/845/JHA of 6 December 2007 concerning cooperation between Asset Recovery Offices of the Member States in the field of tracing and identification of proceeds from, or other property related to, crime, OJ L 332, 18.12.2007, p.103-105
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