Anti-riot units of the German state police forces
The
Bereitschaftspolizei
(literally 'Readiness Police'/On-Call Police (Reserve); effectively
riot police
),
BePo
, are the support and rapid reaction units of
Germany
's police forces. They are composed of detachments from the
Federal Police
and the
State Police
forces of Germany.
Federal Republic
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The
Federal Ministry of the Interior
maintains an office of the
Bereitschaftspolizei
in Berlin which monitors and coordinates the deployment of all
Bereitschaftspolizei
units in Germany. The ministry also provides standardized weapons, vehicles and other equipment.
Federal Police
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The
Bundespolizei
maintains 10 rapid reaction battalions (called
Bundespolizeiabteilung
or BPA) stationed around the country in Ratzeburg, Uelzen, Blumberg, Bad Duben, Duderstadt, Sankt Augustin, Hunfeld,
Bayreuth
, Bad Bergzabern and Deggendorf. These units can reinforce the federal police in any sphere of its missions and support the police forces of the
Lander
. They are also trained to assist local authorities in case of disasters and uprisings. Under new interior ministry plans, the number of
Bereitschaftspolizei
companies will increase from 28 to 29 comprising approx. 25 percent of Germany's police support units.
[1]
Lander/
State Police
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The state
Bereitschaftspolizei
units are part of the
Landespolizei
(state police) and are available for crowd control, (large) demonstrations, sport events and to assist the
Schutzpolizei
when needed. Aside from their primary functions, in some states they also train police recruits who serve about three years in combined training and service in these police support units. The units of one federal state can be deployed to assist the police of another state in case of riots, civil disturbances as well as catastrophes. Their day-to-day duties vary by locality.
In
Hamburg
they patrol the subway system (alongside the security service), assist in raids (f.i. in the
red-light district
or
organised crime
), perform traffic control duty and support regular police officers on patrols.
Some states (e.g. the
Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg
) have a hybrid system, where units of the
Schutzpolizei
may act as units of the
Bereitschaftspolizei
(f.i. for sudden or large riots or terror attacks) - they form so-called
Alarm-
Hundertschaften
with units from all Hamburg police stations (to ensure the performance of the regular tasks of the stations in the same time) to respond as fast as possible.
Structure
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The structure, equipment and training of Bereitschaftpolizei units is standard so that units from different parts of Germany can operate together without any problems.
The
Bereitschaftspolizei
is assigned to
barracks
and organized into sections, platoons and 120 to 150 person training or rapid reaction companies called
Hundertschaften
. In most
Lander
, the
Bereitschaftspolizei
contingents are formed into 600 - 800 person battalions, but in the six largest
Lander
they are organized into regiments.
Some police forces like
Hamburg
have additional alert platoons that are part of the state police and staffed by regular police officers in case of urgent need when support from the state or the Federal Police is not available.
The units are equipped with their own transport and rations allowing them to be deployed quickly to other
Lander
without having to rely on outside support. They are equipped with a wide variety of specialised vehicles such as armoured cars, buses, water cannons, earth moving equipment and command and control vehicles.
Arrest units
give the Bepos special capabilities to secure evidence and arrest perpetrators at events where large crowds normally impede police operations.
In the former German Democratic Republic
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See article:
Volkspolizei-Bereitschaft
The East German Ministry of the Interior maintained the independent Department of the Alert Units of the
Volkspolizei
known as the
Volkspolizei-Bereitschaften
(VPB). It consisted of between 12,000 and 15,000 men (sources disagree) in 21
Volkspolizei
Alert Units of battalion strength. There was usually one regiment (more closely to battalion size) per district of East Germany but the key districts of
Halle
,
Leipzig
and
Magdeburg
, with their large working class populations, and
Potsdam
all had two regiments.
[2]
The Presidium of the People's Police in
East Berlin
had three units located in
Basdorf
.
Each Alert unit was organized as follows:
- Headquarters section
- Four alert companies:
- Support company
- Anti-tank platoon with three 45 mm/57 mm anti-tank guns (later
ATGMs
)
- Artillery platoon with three 76.2 mm
ZiS-3
field/anti-tank guns
- Mortar platoon with three 82 mm mortars
- Headquarters and staff company with:
- signals platoon
- engineer platoon
- chemical platoon
- reconnaissance platoon
- transport platoon
- supply platoon
- control section
- medical section
These units were equipped with light and medium infantry weapons,
SK-1
wheeled armoured personnel carriers,
SK-2
water cannon
(both armoured and unarmoured versions) and
buses
. Their uniform was the standard
Volkspolizei
grey-green. The political reliability of the Alert Units was of particular importance to the
Socialist Unity Party of Germany
(SED) as they would be used against the population in the event of social disorders such as the
strike of 17 June 1953
in the industrial areas of East Germany.
References
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