Police organisation
Bundeskriminalamt
Austria’s federal criminal police office, within the Federal Ministry of the Interior — a different body from the German office of the same name.
At a glance
- Official name
- Bundeskriminalamt
- Commonly rendered in English as
- Austrian Federal Criminal Police Office — a rendering in common use, not the organisation’s own name.
- System
- Austria
- Level of government
- National
- Kind of body
- Criminal investigation agency
- Status
- Currently operating
- Facts last checked against sources
- 13 September 2026
What it is
Austria and Germany each have a Bundeskriminalamt. They are separate institutions in separate states, and the shared name says nothing about shared structure or shared powers. The Austrian office sits within the Federal Ministry of the Interior alongside the Bundespolizei, the state-protection and intelligence directorate, and the special unit Cobra.
What it covers
Federal, within Austria. Its specific competences are not established by the source cited.
Broad responsibilities
- Central criminal-police functions within the federal interior ministry
Who it answers to
Within the Bundesministerium für Inneres.
Elsewhere on this site
- Who polices what — how Austria is structured, against other systems
Other organisations to compare
- Bundespolizei — Austria
- Bundeskriminalamt — Germany
Where this connects
Institutions: National police.
Sources
Federal Ministry of the Interior of Austria (Bundesministerium für Inneres) — police and security
Bundesministerium für Inneres (Austria) · Government publication · link verified 2026-07-26
The Federal Ministry of the Interior's official portal, read directly. Supports that the national police (Bundespolizei), the federal criminal police office (Bundeskriminalamt), the state-protection and intelligence directorate (DSN), the special unit Cobra, and the nine Landespolizeidirektionen all sit within the federal Ministry of the Interior — establishing that Austria has a single national police under the BMI, with the nine territorial directorates being federal authorities rather than separate Land forces.