Police organisation
Bayerische Polizei
The police force of the German state of Bavaria — one of the sixteen Land forces that carry out everyday policing in Germany.
At a glance
- Official name
- Bayerische Polizei
- Commonly rendered in English as
- Bavarian Police — a rendering in common use, not the organisation’s own name.
- System
- Germany
- Level of government
- State
- Kind of body
- State police force
- Status
- Currently operating
- Official website
- https://www.polizei.bayern.de/ — confirmed against the organisation’s own pages on 17 September 2026.
- Facts last checked against sources
- 17 September 2026
What it is
The force states that the Bavarian State Ministry of the Interior is its supreme service authority, that it is structured into Polizeipräsidien, Polizeiinspektionen and in part Polizeistationen, and that it carries out both criminal prosecution and the averting of danger. Its presence in this corpus is the point the Bundespolizei entry already makes from the other side: general policing in Germany belongs to the Länder, and the Bundespolizei neither commands nor directs them. Bavaria is one of sixteen such forces, not a regional branch of a national one.
What it covers
The Free State of Bavaria.
Broad responsibilities
- General policing across Bavaria
- Criminal prosecution (Strafverfolgung)
- Averting of danger (Gefahrenabwehr)
- Traffic policing
Who it answers to
The Bavarian State Ministry of the Interior is named by the force as its supreme service authority (Oberste Dienstbehörde).
Elsewhere on this site
- Who polices what — how Germany is structured, against other systems
Other organisations to compare
- Bundespolizei — Germany
- Bundeskriminalamt — Germany
- Polizei Berlin — Germany
Where this connects
Roles: Patrol officer.
Institutions: State police.
Sources
Wir über uns — Bayerische Polizei
Bayerische Polizei · Institutional (self-description) · link verified 2026-09-17
SCOPE: the Bayerische Polizei only. The force's own 'about us' page in German, read directly. Supports the official German name, the Bavarian State Ministry of the Interior as the force's supreme service authority (Oberste Dienstbehörde), the internal structure of Polizeipräsidien, Polizeiinspektionen and in part Polizeistationen, and the force's own statement that it carries out both criminal prosecution (Strafverfolgung) and the averting of danger (Gefahrenabwehr). The page carries a workforce figure, which is not published. Establishes nothing about any other German Land force or about the federal Bundespolizei.