Federal Criminal Police Office (Germany)

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The Federal Criminal Police Office of Germany (in German: Bundeskriminalamt (BKA); other translations: Federal Criminal Investigation Bureau, Federal Criminal Bureau, Federal Investigation Bureau) is the national investigative police agency of Germany, comparable to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the United States, Gendarmerie Nationale in France or the Australian Federal Police in Australia.

Its responsibilities are the coordination of law enforcement in cooperation with criminal investigation offices of the individual states of Germany (these state police bureaux are known as Landeskriminalamt (plural Landeskriminalämter)) and to conduct investigations in serious crimes, especially those where other countries are involved.

It is headquartered in Wiesbaden on Gersdorff Kaserne, a former Wehrmacht base which, as Lindsey Air Station, was the headquarters of the United States Air Forces in Europe until 1976. The BKA occupied the kaserne after the United States relinquished the site in 1993. Reminders of the American presence remain, however; most BKA addresses fall somewhere on George-Marshall-Straße.

Outside of Wiesbaden, the BKA has branch offices in Berlin and Meckenheim. The BKA is subordinate to the Federal Ministry of the Interior.

Its approximately 4,700 personnel operate nationwide and the BKA’s main missions are:

Coordinating cooperation between the federation and state police forces (especially state criminal investigation authorities) and with foreign investigative authorities.
Collecting and analyzing criminal intelligence, managing the INPOL database of all important crimes and criminals.
Investigating cases of terrorism, extremism, espionage, or economic and financial crime.
Protection of federal witnesses.

The BKA only becomes involved in cases when requested by Land authorities or in cases involving two or more Länder. The federal prosecutor can also direct it to investigate cases of special public interest. The BKA also provides assistance to states in forensic matters, research and organized crime investigations. It is Germany’s national central bureau for the European Police Office (Europol), Schengen Information System and International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol).

The Close Protection Group protects the members of Germany’s constitutional bodies and their foreign guests of state and is often the most visible part of the BKA. Specially selected and trained officers with special equipment and vehicles provide round-the-clock personal security to those they protect. The Protection Group is now headquartered in Berlin.