Police organisation
Bundespolizei
Germany’s federal police, within the Federal Ministry of the Interior, responsible for borders, railways and civil aviation security — not for general policing, which belongs to the Länder.
At a glance
- Official name
- Bundespolizei
- Commonly rendered in English as
- Federal Police — a rendering in common use, not the organisation’s own name.
- System
- Germany
- Level of government
- Federal
- Kind of body
- Federal police force
- Status
- Currently operating
- Official website
- https://www.bundespolizei.de/ — confirmed against the organisation’s own pages on 13 September 2026.
- Facts last checked against sources
- 13 September 2026
What it is
The Bundespolizei is a federal force with a defined remit rather than a national police service. It states its own tasks as averting danger connected with border crossing, securing trains and railway installations, protecting civil aviation, and pursuing criminal offences and regulatory breaches within those fields. Everyday policing in Germany is carried out by sixteen Land forces that the Bundespolizei does not command and cannot direct — which is why calling it "the German police" misdescribes the system. Austria also has a force named Bundespolizei, and it is a different kind of body: there it is the general national police for the whole country.
What it covers
Federal, and defined by subject matter rather than by territory: borders, the railway estate, and civil aviation security across Germany.
Broad responsibilities
- Border policing
- Policing of trains and railway installations
- Civil aviation security
- Investigation of offences and regulatory breaches within those fields
Who it answers to
Within the Bundesministerium des Innern (Federal Ministry of the Interior).
Elsewhere on this site
- Who polices what — how Germany is structured, against other systems
Other organisations to compare
- Bundeskriminalamt — Germany
- Polizei Berlin — Germany
Where this connects
Institutions: National police.
Sources
Bundespolizei (Bundesministerium des Innern) · Institutional (self-description) · link verified 2026-09-13
SCOPE: the German federal police only. The force’s own site, read directly. Supports the official name "Bundespolizei"; that it sits within the Bundesministerium des Innern; and its four stated task areas in its own words — "Wir wehren Gefahren ab im Zusammenhang mit dem Grenzübertritt" (border), "Wir sorgen für Sicherheit in Zügen und Bahnanlagen" (railway), "Wir schützen vor Angriffen auf die Sicherheit des zivilen Luftverkehrs" (aviation security) and "Wir verfolgen Straftaten und Ordnungswidrigkeiten". Establishes NOTHING about the sixteen Landespolizeien, which are separate forces the Bundespolizei does not command.