Hamburg Police
Polizei Hamburg | |
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Common name | Hamburger Polizei |
Agency overview | |
Formed | 26 May 1814 |
Preceding agencies |
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Employees | 11.000 (2021) |
Jurisdictional structure | |
Operations jurisdiction | Hamburg |
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Location of Hamburg shown in Germany | |
Size | 755 km2 |
Population | 1,769,117 |
Governing body | Government of Hamburg |
Constituting instruments |
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General nature | |
Operational structure | |
Overseen by | State Ministry of the Interior |
Headquarters | Bruno-Georges-Platz 1 22297 Hamburg |
Senator für Inneres responsible |
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Agency executive |
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Child agency |
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Units | List
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College and schools | List
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Facilities | |
Stations | List[1]
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Automobiles and trucks | List
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Boats | List
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Helicopters | 2 Eurocopter EC 135[2] |
Animals | List |
Notables | |
Person |
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Award |
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Website | |
http://polizei.hamburg.de | |
Police related data (number of officers, vehicles etc.) as of 31 December 2008[3] |
The Hamburg Police (German: Hamburger Polizei or Polizei Hamburg) is the German Landespolizei force for the city-state of Hamburg. Law enforcement in Germany is divided between federal and state (Land) agencies. A precursor to the agency, the Polizei-Behörde, has existed since 1814.
The State Minister for the Interior (German: Senator für Inneres) oversees the Hamburg Police, which consists of aviation, water, road and port patrols, and crime investigation. The city of Hamburg is served by police stations (German: Polizeikommissariate) of the Uniformed Police (German: Schutzpolizei). Head of police is Polizeipräsident Ralf Martin Meyer. In 2008 Hamburg Police had 500,335 deployments.
History
Before the police force was established, there was a night watch (German: Wochenwärter, lit. week wardens) and a port patrol. The night watch was a professional force whose duties included calling the hours at night and closing the city gates. In 1671, the watch was reorganised along the lines of the Schutterij in Amsterdam, and in 1770, 284 men operated in 64 districts.[4] In 1787, a force patrolling the port (the German: Hafenpatrouille) was established, though this was merged with the police in 1875.[5]
Before the French occupation of Hamburg (1806–1814) the Wedde was the government agency collecting fines, and the Prätur an agency — more like a court — to arbitrate, e.g. in cases of bankruptcy, or differences on rental fees.[6][7] In 1814, the government of Hamburg (Rat) established a standardised police agency (Polizey-Behörde). The former brought tasks from the Wedde and Prätur into the new police.[5] The night watch and the police coexisted until 1876, when the watch was dissolved.[4]
The night watch, Wedde, Prätur, port patrol, and later police were supported by the military. In 1842 the police consisted of 48 men and 425 members of the night watch, whilst Hamburg had a population of 200,000. In 1870, 650 Constablers, the same as the British name, were introduced to the police, including a mounted unit.[5]
After several changes of structure and oversight agency — also the establishment of Political Police to monitor the
Second World War atrocities
During

In the course of the Nazi-Soviet
After the war
In the first days of the
In their research Norbert Steinborn and Karin Schanzenbach — later published as a book titled Die Hamburger Polizei nach 1945 — ein Neuanfang, der keiner war — (The Hamburg Police after 1945 — a new beginning that was not) — described the situation of the police force after the Second World War, the process of denazification, the development up to the North Sea flood of 1962 and the following incorporation of the police into the State Ministry of the Interior.
On 3 May 1945, the first order for the police force in Hamburg by the 609 Detachment Hansestadt Hamburg, the military administrative government for Hamburg, was to stand by armed. On 7 May 1945, precise regulations for the German police offices were published. In 1945 head of the police was the British Colonel Michel O'Rorke, chief of the
In 1947, the
During the 1950s the police force was often in confrontation with strikers. In 1952, a strike of 175 chemical workers was described by the media as political and the head of the workers council as a communist. The police were used to protect strike-breakers. In June 1952, Chief of Police Georges told the police commission that a disproportionate number of police officers, more than 90 daily, had been in action for such a small company. The strikes and student demonstrations were one argument to establish a police support unit Bereitschaftspolizei.[14]
In 1975, the police horse units were abolished. 42 horses and 52 officers had patrolled the Harburg Hills and other areas in the suburbs of Hamburg.[15]
In 1995, in context with the Hamburg police scandal (See below: Controversies and incidents), the office of Police Commissioner was initiated. In 1998, State Traffic Administration (German: Landesverkehrsverwaltung) was outsourced as a separate company (German: Landesbetrieb Verkehr). In 2004, the police was more centralized, e.g. the state police offices (German: Landespolizeidirektionen) were dissolved.[5]
Organisation
The Ministry of the Interior has the legal and technical oversight for the law enforcement agencies. The current Minister of the Interior is Andy Grote (SPD). Since 2023 Falk Schnabel is president of the police.[16]
The Polizei Hamburg consists of the Zentraldirektion (Central Directorate) of the uniformed Protection Police (Schutzpolizei) with its regions City / West, East, and South, and their police stations (Polizeikommissariate [PK]), the Landeskriminalamt (lit. state criminal police office), the Wasserschutzpolizei (Water Police) controlling traffic in the port of Hamburg, the Landesbereitschaftspolizei (lit. stand-by or readiness police), the Traffic Office (Verkehrsdirektion), and several other administrative offices.
Units are among others the Criminal Investigation Services (Kriminalpolizei), the Special Task Force ( The helicopters and the police orchestra are units of the Stand-By Police.
Schools for the Hamburg police are the state police school and the school for the water police. The school for the water police is also the central educational institution for all German state water police units.[18] The Police College Hamburg (German: Hochschule der Polizei Hamburg) offers a bachelor's degree for police officers of higher ranking and security managers.[19]
Hamburg Police has its own museum. In 2009 the museum was closed for renovations. The collection started in 1893.[20]
Rank structure
Police ranks are shown with




Senior service (German: Höherer Dienst)
Upper service (Gehobener Dienst)
Title | Epaulette | |
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Uniformed Police | Water Police | |
Erster Polizeihauptkommissar (Police staff captain) |
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Polizeihauptkommissar (Sold group: A12) (Police senior captain) |
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Polizeihauptkommissar (A11) (Police captain) |
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Polizeioberkommissar (Police 1st lieutenant) |
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Polizeikommissar (Police lieutenant) |
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Polizeikommissar Anwärter (Police lieutenant candidate) |
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—
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Intermediate service (Mittlerer Dienst)
Mission
In 2008, Hamburg Police had 500,335 deployments (1,367 per day).[1]
Tasks
The Hamburg Police is part of the
Legal basis
Hamburg Police has the legal jurisdiction for the city-state of Hamburg. Its tasks are defined in the Gesetz zum Schutz der öffentlichen Sicherheit und Ordnung (SOG)[22] — the state law of the protection of security and order — for acts to avert danger, and the Federal Strafprozeßordnung (StPO) (Code of criminal procedure),[23] for the law enforcement itself.
Stations

Hamburg Police stations are called Polizeikommissariate. The areas of responsibility do not correspond to the local government areas of the boroughs and quarters of Hamburg. There are 24 police stations for the uniformed police, in addition to an airport police station[24] and a station at the main railway station Hamburg Hauptbahnhof.
The most well known station is the so-called Davidwache, officially known as Polizeikommissariat 15 and designed by
As of 2009, the Water Police (Wasserschutzpolizei) had five stations, two of which are not actually in Hamburg. One is located at the mouth of the Elbe river in Cuxhaven, Lower Saxony, and another is a sub-station in Lauenburg, a town in Schleswig-Holstein. The other three are in Hamburg proper.[1]
Headquarters
The first police headquarters of 1814 was an office building at Neuer Wall.[28] After the Second World War the police was headquartered in the 9th floor of an office building at the former Karl-Muck-Platz (now Johannes-Brahms-Platz).[29] Later it moved to one of the first skyscrapers in Hamburg, built 1958–1962; the so-called Polizeihochhaus (Police skyscraper).[5] In 1997 the government of Hamburg decided to build a new headquarters at the area of the stand-by police in Alsterdorf quarter.[30] In 2000 the headquarters moved to the new building in Alsterdorf.[5]
Equipment
Hamburg Police has 9,748 employees, including 6,174 uniformed policemen, 1,521 crime investigation officers, 498 officers of the water police and 1,555 in the administration. They are fitted out with patrol cars, water cannons, helicopters,[2] boats, and 7,176 protection vests, 9,400 riot agent canisters, 8,236 SIG Sauer P6 pistols, 34 Walther P5 pistols, 575 Heckler & Koch P2000 V2 pistols, 482 Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine guns. Communication is provided by 5,805 radio units and 1,652 mobile phones. The car pool was used for 18.3 mil. kilometer.[1]
Since 2005, the uniformed police wear blue uniforms.[31] Hamburg Police was the first German state police to change from green to blue. The change was initiated by the former Minister Ronald Schill. The financing model for police equipment was new to Germany, private economy granted a passive credit to the government of Hamburg, so all uniforms could be changed at once.[32] Hamburg's Polizeieinsatzfahrzeuge — the formal name for patrol cars — are called "Peterwagen", because of a misunderstanding between a German clerk and a British officer. The clerk, wanting an authorization for new radio-controlled patrol cars, tried to spell patrol car with "P, like Peter..". The British officer interrupting "Oh, I know, Peterwagen!" forwarded the petition.[33]
Controversies and incidents
The Hamburg Police has often been criticized for single incidents like arrests, conduct during demonstrations, or false radar speed checks.[34][35] Two events are notable, because of the reaction of the public, the media, the government, and their legal aftermath.
- Hamburg pocket
On 8 June 1986, the Hamburg Police closed in on 861 protesters and contained them in the open area of the Heiligengeistfeld for 13 hours. The demonstrators were held without food, water and toilets. Demonstrations against the use of nuclear power developed in the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster. On the day before, groups of protestors, on their way to the Brokdorf Nuclear Power Plant, were stopped by the police. On Sunday, 8 June, several people of the anti-nuclear movement wanted to protest against the police actions. The Hamburger Kessel (lit. Hamburg pocket, the word Kessel can also be translated as kettle.) were sentenced legal wrong, by the Hamburg regional court, and all involved were adjudged a solatium of DM200. The 4 police leaders of the Hamburg pocket were declared guilty of deprivation of personal freedom, but only admonishment and had to pay a fine.[36]
- Hamburg police scandal
In 1994 a Parlamentarischer Untersuchungsausschuss (PUA) (parliamentary commission of enquiry) was installed after the resignation of the State Minister for the Interior Werner Hackmann, because of several accusations of xenophobia, with assaults and alleged police brutality. The commission was in existence for over two years — the longest term in Hamburg's history to date.[37] In 1996 the findings stated that right-wing extremist events in the police were no individual cases.[38] During the investigations, State Police Colonel Heinz Krappen resigned too, but some accusations turned out to be wrong.[37] The whole incident is known as Hamburg police scandal, and a police complaints authority — to investigate independent and unprejudiced, and to break the "wall of silence", which was often noticed during investigations within the police — was installed in 1998, but dissolved by Senator Ronald Schill in 2001.[39]
Line of duty deaths
As of 1997, Hamburg Police had lost 26 police officers since World War II. Eighteen were shot, intentionally and heinous or in effect, one plunged to death, one was knifed, and one was crushed. Six officers died in accidents. The youngest was 19, the oldest 58 years old.[40]
Federal and other law enforcement agencies
There are several agencies stationed in Hamburg proper not part of the Hamburg police. The State Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Landesamt für den Verfassungsschutz) is Hamburg's domestic intelligence agency. The Federal Police are stationed at Hamburg Hauptbahnhof and Hamburg Airport where in 2008, the first combined airport-police station for Federal and State police was established.[24] A company of the German military police (4./FJgBtl 151) is stationed at the Reichspräsident-Ebert-Kaserne (Imperial President Ebert barracks) in the Altona borough.[41]
Hamburg is also served by the Bezirklicher Ordnungsdienst (BOD) — comparable with the British
Further reading
- ISBN 978-0-14-100042-8.
References
- ^ a b c d "Behördenfinder Hamburg (selectable list)" (in German). Retrieved 2009-09-24.
- ^ EADS. Archived from the originalon 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2009-09-23.
- ^ "Polizeibericht 2008" (PDF) (in German). Hamburg Police. May 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-02-27. Retrieved 2009-09-23.
- ^ a b Tilgner, Daniel. Nachtwache, Hamburg Lexikon. p. 337
- ^ a b c d e f g h Kopitzsch, Franklin. Polizei, Hamburg Lexikon. pp. 375–378
- ^ Büttner, Annett. Wedde, Hamburg Lexikon. p. 520
- ^ Büttner, Annett. Prätur, Hamburg Lexikon. p. 381
- ^ a b c "Hamburg Police Battalions during the Second World War". Archived from the original on 2008-02-22. Retrieved 2009-09-24.
- ^ ISBN 978-0307426239.
- ^ Christopher R. Browning (1998) [1992]. "Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland". Arrival in Poland (PDF file, direct download 7.91 MB). Retrieved May 1, 2013.PDF cache archived by WebCite.
- ^ Verg, p. 183
- ^ Steinborn, Schanzenbach, pp. 5–21
- ^ Steinborn, Schanzenbach, p. 65
- ^ Steinborn, Schanzenbach, pp. 109–111
- ^ Mellenthin, p. 41
- ^ "Polizeipräsident Werner Jantosch" (in German). Polizei Hamburg. Archived from the original on June 27, 2009. Retrieved 2009-09-24.
- ^ a b Zand-Vakili, André (9 August 2008). "Wenn Puppen auf Ganovenjagd gehen". Die Welt (in German). Retrieved 2009-10-07.
- ^ "Aufbau Innenbehörde Hamburg" (in German). State ministry of the Interior. Archived from the original on September 18, 2010. Retrieved 2009-09-23.
- ^ "Willkommen an der Hochschule der Polizei Hamburg" (in German). Hochschule der Polizei. Archived from the original on 2007-05-09. Retrieved 2009-09-24.
- ^ "Polizeimuseum Hamburg" (in German). State ministry of the Interior. Retrieved 2009-09-24.
- ^ "Herzlich willkommen auf den offiziellen Internetseiten der Polizei Hamburg" (in German). Polizei Hamburg. Archived from the original on 2009-09-21. Retrieved 2009-09-24.
- ^ Law: "2012-1 Gesetz zum Schutz der öffentlichen Sicherheit und Ordnung (SOG). Vom 14. März 1966" (in German). Senat der Freien und Hansestadt Hamburg. Archived from the original on 2005-04-29. Retrieved 2009-09-23.
- ^ Law: "Strafprozeßordnung in der Fassung der Bekanntmachung vom 7. April 1987 (BGBl. I S. 1074, 1319), die durch Artikel 3 des Gesetzes vom 30. Juli 2009 (BGBl. I S. 2437) geändert worden ist" (in German). Bundesministerium der Justiz. Retrieved 2009-09-24.
- ^ a b "Hamburg: Bundesweit erste gemeinsame Flughafen-Polizeiwache eröffnet" (in German). Behörde für Inneres. 2008-12-08. Archived from the original on 2009-06-02. Retrieved 2009-09-24.
- ISBN 978-3-8327-9078-3.
- red light district around the Reeperbahn[permanent dead link]
- ISBN 978-3-935436-12-0.
- ^ Mellenthin, p. 10
- ^ Mellenthin, p. 28
- ^ Mellenthin, p. 93
- ^ "Im Mai gibt es blaue Uniformen" [New blue uniforms in May]. Hamburger Abendblatt (in German). 2004-10-22. Retrieved 2009-09-24.
- ^ Christian Denso (2004-11-22). "Blaue Polizei-Uniformen: Immer mehr folgen Hamburg" [New blue uniforms: more are following Hamburg]. Hamburger Abendblatt (in German). Retrieved 2009-09-24.
- ^ "Peterwagen — Falsch verstanden" [Peterwagen — misunderstood]. Hamburger Abendblatt (in German). 2002-07-09. Retrieved 2009-09-24.
- ^ "Kontroverse Debatte über Asem-Polizeieinsatz" [Dispute on ASEM police operation] (in German). Norddeutscher Rundfunk. 2007-06-07. Archived from the original on 2007-08-14. Retrieved 2009-09-29.
- ^ Christian Denzo (2007-11-01). "Radargerät war nicht geeicht — Polizei stellt 3200 Verfahren ein" [Radar control was not gauged — Police stops 3,200 investigations]. Hamburger Abendblatt (in German). Retrieved 2009-09-23.
- ^ Kai von Appen (2006-06-08). "Im Kessel gar gekocht" [Cooked in the kettle]. Die Tageszeitung (in German). Retrieved 2009-09-24.
- ^ a b Ira von Mellenthin (2001-03-05). "Die Lehren aus dem Polizeiskandal" [Teachings of the police scandal]. Die Welt (in German). Retrieved 2009-09-24.
- ^ Martina Kant (1997-06-17). "Cilip Nr. 56 — Chronologie — November 1996" (in German). Institut für Bürgerrechte & öffentliche Sicherheit e.V. Retrieved 2009-09-24.
- ISBN 978-3-8258-1157-0. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2011-07-18. Retrieved 2009-09-24.
- ^ Mellenthin, p. 78
- Streitkräftebasis. Retrieved 2009-09-24.
- ^ "Bezirklicher Ordnungsdienst" (in German). Hamburg-Mitte borough. Archived from the original on June 20, 2009. Retrieved 2009-10-08.
Works cited
- Verg, Erich; Verg, Martin (2007). Das Abenteuer das Hamburg heißt (in German) (4th ed.). Hamburg: Ellert&Richter. ISBN 978-3-8319-0137-1.
- Kopitsch, Franklin; Tilgner, Daniel, eds. (2005). "Hamburg-Lexikon". Hamburg Lexikon (in German) (3 ed.). Ellert&Richter. ISBN 3-8319-0179-1.
- Steinborn, Norbert; Schanzenbach, Karin (1990). Die Hamburger Polizei nach 1945 — ein Neuanfang, der keiner war — (in German). Hamburg: Verlag Heiner Biller. ISBN 3-9802191-1-9.
- Ira von Mellenthin (1997). Das große Polizei Buch Hamburg (in German). Hamburg: Medien-Verlag Schubert. ISBN 3-929229-40-4.
External links
- Website in (in German). Retrieved 2009-09-24