Police organisation
fedpol
Switzerland’s federal police office. It is expressly not a national police force, and expressly not superior to the cantonal forces that do the policing.
At a glance
- Official name
- fedpol
- Commonly rendered in English as
- Federal Office of Police — a rendering in common use, not the organisation’s own name.
- System
- Switzerland
- Level of government
- Federal
- Kind of body
- Specialist national service
- Status
- Currently operating
- Facts last checked against sources
- 13 September 2026
What it is
fedpol states the position in its own words: "Switzerland does not have a national police force", each canton is responsible for policing its own territory under its own police law, and fedpol "is not a superordinate authority, but works alongside these police forces". Its functions are limited and federal — investigations in federal jurisdiction, security duties, and national coordination. Switzerland is the clearest case in this registry of a federal body that would be badly misread as a national police service.
What it covers
Federal, and limited. Policing is primarily cantonal; fedpol does not command the cantonal forces.
Broad responsibilities
- Investigations within federal jurisdiction
- Security duties at federal level
- National coordination alongside — not above — the cantonal police forces
Elsewhere on this site
- Who polices what — how Switzerland is structured, against other systems
Where this connects
Institutions: National police.
Sources
National cooperation — fedpol (Federal Office of Police)
Federal Office of Police fedpol (fedpol.admin.ch) · Institutional (self-description) · link verified 2026-09-19
fedpol's own account of police cooperation. URL CORRECTED on 2026-09-17: the previously cited path (/fedpol/en/home/polizei-zusammenarbeit/national.html) now returns HTTP 404 after a site reorganisation, and was found by the source monitor rather than by a person noticing. The replacement was read directly and carries the same three statements verbatim: 'Unlike many other countries, Switzerland does not have a national police force'; 'Instead, responsibility for maintaining public order lies with the police forces of its communes, cities and cantons'; and 'Fedpol is not a superordinate authority, but works alongside these police forces to safeguard internal and external security'. Establishes that policing is primarily cantonal and that fedpol does not command the cantonal police. Structural facts only.