Bremen Police

The Bremen State Police (German: Polizei Bremen) is the state police force of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. It employs circa 2,500 officers. The agency is headed by police chief (German: Polizeipräsident) Lutz Müller; the political head is the Senator for the Interior Ulrich Mäurer.

Bremen Police
Polizei Bremen
Agency overview
FormedJanuary 1, 1947
Employees2,550
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdiction Bremen
Location of Bremen shown in Germany
Size419.38 km²
Governing bodySenate of Bremen
Constituting instrument
  • Polizeigesetz (PolG)
General nature
Operational structure
HeadquartersBremen
Agency executive
  • Lutz Müller[1], Polizeipräsident
Website
Polizei Bremen

The Bremen Police consists of three main bureaus: the central police directorate for personnel, education and logistics (Zentrale Polizeidirektion); the bureau of operations (Direktion Einsatz), comprising three patrol divisions Schutzpolizei, the riot police division readiness police, the traffic police division, and the water police division; and the detectives bureau (Direktion Kriminalpolizei/Landeskriminalamt).[2]

History
Bereitschaftspolizei Bremen is interacting after a Werder Bremen match, 2015
Polizeihaus, Bremen
Bremen Police Officer at the anchor cable at the launching of steamboat SS Bremen, 1928
International Police Exhibition Hannover 1966: Bremen police presented a traffic accident
Readiness boat „Bremen 1“ for Wasserschutzpolizei and firebrigarde Bremen

The Bremen Police was under the command of a police-commission of the Senat of Bremen headed by after major Karl Deichmann (MSPD) (1919–1920), after World War I. Later policing was headed by Senator Albert von Spreckelsen (DVP) (1920–1928, 1931–1933) and Senator Deichmann (1928–1931) again. Up from 1919 the office of a president of the police was installed and till 1933 the conservative Leopold Petri hold this position.

In Nazi Germany, policing in Bremen was headed by SS or NSDAP members, but the commander of police was still the mayor of Bremen. The police consisted of a small Schutzpolizei (regular police), a large number of so-called "Luftschutzpolizei" (Air Raid Precautions police), a city corps and about 700 plant protection police officers.

The Bremen Police was formed after World War II as the law enforcement agency for the state of Bremen. In 1947, a state criminal investigation office (Landeskriminalamt, LKA) was founded, which closely worked alongside the criminal police of the British element of the Control Commission for Germany and later with the related office in Lower Saxony. In 1974, the Landeskriminalamt was made an independent agency and in 2000, it was once again made part of the state police criminal investigation office.

A remarkable date of Bremen police history after WWII was May 6, 1980. On this day the ceremonial oath of the Bundeswehr for recruits took place in Bremen Weserstadion. It was the first vow since the existence of the Bundeswehr and a major public event outside the barracks. Protests by various groups resulted in massive violent riots that culminated in the biggest street riots in the history of the city of Bremen. 257 police officers and more than 500 people involved in the protests were wounded.[3][4]

In 2014 the political head of Bremen State Police Ulrich Mäurer (SPD) started an initiative to charge German Football Association (DFB) for the extra coasts of the massive police present at so called "high-risc-matches" (Hochriskospiele), which was paid until than by public money from taxes. Deutsche Fußball-Liga (DFL) denied this and it went to court.[5]

The traditional police headquarters is the Polizeihaus Am Wall in the city centre, which had housed the Bremen police from 1908 until 1999. Today, the inner-city police office is housed there whilst the police headquarters is now in Bremen-Vahr. Riot police and the police academy is based in the Hindenburg-barracks in Bremen-Neustadt.

Organization

The Bremen State Police consists of three main divisions; the central police directorate for personnel, education and logistics (Zentrale Polizeidirektion); the operational directorate for traffic and water police, Schutzpolizei, the readiness police (Direktion Einsatz) and criminal investigation unit (Direktion Kriminalpolizei/Landeskriminalamt). Part of Bereitschaftspolizei Bremen is a Police dog unit (Hundestaffel Bremen). The weaponry bomb disposal unit (Kampfmittelräumdienst Bremen) is also a division of Bremen Police.

The State Police is also cooperating with federal agencies: at the airport and the main station of Bremen with federal police and in custom related cases with the local Hauptzollamt Bremen and Zollfahndungsamt Hamburg.

Police officers are organized in both police unions, Deutsche Polizeigwerkschaft (DPolG) and Gewerkschaft der Polizei (GdP).

Education

Officers at Bremen Poice are educated by a three-year study in policing at Hochschule für Öffentliche Verwaltung Bremen, graduating with a Bachelor of Art. At the basic study the officers are trained in knowledge about society science, traffic-science and transport-law, psychology, law, administration and tactics, criminalistic and policing. Also they are trained in a foreign language. During the entire study, sport, shooting and self-defence are integrated in the education at a regular base, as well as practical training in police service.

Police Bremen ran a training-police-station only for education at the barracks of readiness police. There novices train tactical behaviour and operational skills in role plays.[6]

Officers of Naval police have to have maritime additional qualification, trained by Wasserschutzpolizeischule in Hamburg.

The Bremen Police has a naval division - the Wasserschutzpolizei Bremen ("Water Police Force"), WSP. Wasserschutzpolizei Bremen is part of Direktion Einsatz and is responsible for the water police tasks and naval police enforcement on the river of Weser. Local offices are located in the port of Doventor (Bremen) and the container terminal (Bremerhaven). The tasks of the WSP include operational and patrol duties, crime prevention, dangerous goods transport monitoring, environmental protection, maritime safety and prevention and contact service in recreational shipping. Until 2011, WSP Bremen was also responsible for the police control of international traffic in the seaports of Bremen and Bremerhaven until those responsibilities were handed over to the Federal Police at the instigation of the police leadership.

Equipment

The Bremen police is equipped with cars of different brands; Anti-Riot Police uses Mercedes Benz vans and operates two water canon trucks WaWe 10 from Rosenbauer-Mercedes Benz. Officers carry their duty handgun Walther P99 and additional tools, such as handcuffs, pepperspray, a flashlight and a tonfa.

Heckler & Koch MP5 machine pistols are used additional at high risk operations. In 2017 Hamburg Police and Bremen Police ordered Heckler & Koch G36 assault rifle for their special-units.[7] They are in use at anti-terror-operations and operations against organized crime.

References
  1. "POL-HB: Nr.: 0278--Neuer Leiter der Wasserschutzpolizei Bremen--". presseportal.de.
  2. Senator für Inneres: Innensenator Mäurer ordnet die Polizei neu. Pressemitteilung vom 28. Juli 2016.
  3. "Neue Ausstellung im Bremer Rathaus: Geschichte der Bremer Polizei". Weser Kurier). Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  4. "Bremen: Signale überhört - Der Spiegel 20/1980" (in German). Spiegel Online, Hamburg. Retrieved 2017-08-30.
  5. "Reaktionen auf DFL Urteil". Radio Bremen. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
  6. "Hochschule für Öffentliche Verwaltung Bremen". www.hfoev.bremen.de.
  7. Fisser, Dirk. "Hamburg und Bremen kaufen Waffen: Terror: Sturmgewehre und Maschinenpistolen für Polizisten". www.noz.de.
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