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Austria

Law enforcement in Austria

A single national police under the Federal Ministry of the Interior, organised into nine Land directorates that are federal — not Land — authorities.

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Policing in Austria is federal. The Federal Minister of the Interior is the supreme security authority, with the nine Land police directorates (Landespolizeidirektionen) subordinate to that Minister (Article 78a(1)), one for each Land (Article 78b(1)). Those directorates are federal authorities, not police forces run by the Länder. Within the Federal Ministry of the Interior sit the national police (Bundespolizei), the federal criminal police office (Bundeskriminalamt), the state-protection and intelligence directorate, and the special unit Cobra.

The named organisations in this system have pages of their own: Bundespolizei, Bundeskriminalamt. How this system compares with others on the five structural questions is set out in who polices what. The body that trains them has a page of its own: Sicherheitsakademie.

The same idea, explained generally

Sources

Sources

  1. Federal Constitutional Law of Austria (Bundes-Verfassungsgesetz, B-VG), consolidated

    Rechtsinformationssystem des Bundes (RIS), Bundeskanzleramt (Austria) · Legislation · 1930 · link verified 2026-07-26

    The consolidated Austrian Federal Constitutional Law in the official legal-information system of the Federation (RIS). Individual articles were fetched at their ELI addresses and confirmed verbatim in two independent passes. Supports Art. 10(1) Z 6 and Z 7 (civil and criminal law, the administration of justice, protective institutions, and the security police — except the local security police — are FEDERAL matters of both legislation and execution); Art. 78a(1) and 78b(1) (the Federal Minister of the Interior is the supreme security authority; one Landespolizeidirektion per Land, subordinate to that Minister — federal authorities, not Land police forces); Art. 82(1) ("Die ordentliche Gerichtsbarkeit geht vom Bund aus" — ordinary jurisdiction emanates from the Federation), reworded to "ordentliche" with effect from 1 January 2014 by the 2012 administrative-jurisdiction reform; Art. 87(1) (judges independent); Art. 90a (public prosecutors as organs of the ordinary judiciary, bound by instructions as provided by federal law); Art. 92(1) (the Oberster Gerichtshof is the highest instance in civil and criminal matters); Art. 129/133 (the administrative courts and the Verwaltungsgerichtshof); Art. 144 (the Verfassungsgerichtshof); and Art. 148a (the Volksanwaltschaft handles complaints of maladministration in federal administration).

  2. Das Bundesministerium für Inneres — Bundesministerium für Inneres (Austria)

    Bundesministerium für Inneres (Austria) · Government publication · link verified 2026-09-17

    SCOPE: the Federal Ministry of the Interior itself. The ministry's own page about the ministry, read directly. Supports that the BMI is the security authority of third instance (Sicherheitsbehörde III. Instanz), headed by the Federal Minister of the Interior, and that it is responsible for security matters, the state borders and the organisation of the operational service of the Bundespolizei. It does NOT establish which bodies sit within the ministry — the four records below carry that, each from the ministry's own page for that body.

  3. Bundespolizei — Bundesministerium für Inneres (Austria)

    Bundesministerium für Inneres (Austria) · Government publication · link verified 2026-09-17

    SCOPE: the Bundespolizei and its relationship to the Landespolizeidirektionen. The ministry's own page for the force, read directly. Supports that the Bundespolizei is an armed, largely uniformed Wachkörper established in 2005 by merging the previously independent Bundesgendarmerie, Bundessicherheitswachekorps and Kriminalbeamtenkorps; and that the police is attached, for the performance of executive service, to the security authorities led by the Interior Ministry — “in erster Linie den neun Landespolizeidirektionen”. That is what establishes that the nine directorates are authorities under the ministry rather than forces belonging to the Länder. The page states its own last update as 27 March 2025.

  4. Bundeskriminalamt — Bundesministerium für Inneres (Austria)

    Bundesministerium für Inneres (Austria) · Government publication · link verified 2026-09-17

    SCOPE: the Bundeskriminalamt only. The ministry's own page for the office, read directly. Supports that the BK is subordinate to the Generaldirektion für die öffentliche Sicherheit (Sektion II) within the Federal Ministry of the Interior, that it began operating in 2003, and that it supports every Landeskriminalamt and subordinate police service as the central office in Austria. The staffing figure and the named directors on the page are the office's own and are NOT republished.

  5. Direktion Staatsschutz und Nachrichtendienst — Bundesministerium für Inneres (Austria)

    Bundesministerium für Inneres (Austria) · Government publication · link verified 2026-09-17

    SCOPE: the DSN only. The ministry's own page for the directorate, read directly. Supports that the DSN is both the police state-protection authority and the civilian domestic intelligence service of the Republic of Austria, and that the separation of the state-protection and intelligence functions is an essential element of it. Nothing here establishes its powers, its statutory basis or its oversight.

  6. Einsatzkommando Cobra / Direktion für Spezialeinheiten — Bundesministerium für Inneres (Austria)

    Bundesministerium für Inneres (Austria) · Government publication · link verified 2026-09-17

    SCOPE: EKO Cobra/DSE only. The ministry's own page for the unit, read directly. Supports that the Einsatzkommando Cobra/Direktion für Spezialeinheiten is an organisational unit within the Federal Ministry of the Interior, formed in a 2013 reorganisation that combined four previously independent special functions of the ministry. The page is largely a history of the unit; nothing here establishes its current powers or its command relationship to the Landespolizeidirektionen.