The Federal Police (, ) is the national and principal

law enforcement agency A law enforcement agency (LEA) is any government agency responsible for law enforcement within a specific jurisdiction through the employment and deployment of law enforcement officers and their resources. The most common type of law enforcement ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

History

In 2005, the Federal Police replaced the Austrian Federal Gendarmerie, which policed most of the country, and the ''Polizei'' which policed Austria’s major urban centres such as

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

and

Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...

. The Federal Police also serves as Austria’s

border control Border control comprises measures taken by governments to monitor and regulate the movement of people, animals, and goods across land, air, and maritime borders. While border control is typically associated with international borders, it als ...

agency. In October 2021, the FP unveiled the Schnelle Interventionsgruppe (SIG) or the Rapid Intervention Group as a response to concerns that police response to serious incidents cannot be mobilized on time.https://www.blo24.at/nachrichten/steiermark/10843-schnelle-interventions-gruppen-sig The SIG was deployed in various cities in Austria. The SIG is under the Schnellen Reaktionskräfte (SRK) or Rapid Reaction Force with the Bereitschaftseinheit (BE) or the Standby Unit.

Command structure

The Federal Police is commanded by the Austrian Federal Ministry of the Interior. The Federal Minister of the Interior is the highest law enforcement authority. The Federal Police works in partnership with the 19

municipal police Municipal police, city police, or local police are law enforcement agencies that are under the control of local government. This includes the municipal government, where it is the smallest administrative subdivision. They receive fundi ...

agencies and other law enforcement agencies in Austria. The Provincial Police Directorates - established as federal authorities in the provinces - are subordinate to the Federal Minister. District administrative authorities (i.e. authorities established in the provinces for indirect federal administration) are subordinate to the Provincial Police Directorates. There are nine separate provincial police directorates which correspond to the nine provinces of Austria: *

Styria Styria ( ; ; ; ) is an Austrian Federal states of Austria, state in the southeast of the country. With an area of approximately , Styria is Austria's second largest state, after Lower Austria. It is bordered to the south by Slovenia, and cloc ...

Carinthia Carinthia ( ; ; ) is the southernmost and least densely populated States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The Lake Wolayer is a mountain lake on the Carinthian side of the Carnic Main ...

Lower Austria Lower Austria ( , , abbreviated LA or NÖ) is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Major cities are Amstetten, Lower Austria, Amstetten, Krems an der Donau, Wiener Neustadt and Sankt Pölten, which ...

Upper Austria Upper Austria ( ; ; ) is one of the nine States of Austria, states of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, and Salzburg (state), Salzbur ...

Vorarlberg Vorarlberg ( ; ; , , or ) is the westernmost States of Austria, state () of Austria. It has the second-smallest geographical area after Vienna and, although it also has the second-smallest population, it is the state with the second-highest popu ...

Tyrol Tyrol ( ; historically the Tyrole; ; ) is a historical region in the Alps of Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary, f ...

Burgenland Burgenland (; ; ; Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian: ''Burgnland''; Slovene language, Slovene: ''Gradiščanska''; ) is the easternmost and least populous Bundesland (Austria), state of Austria. It consists of two statutory city (Austria), statut ...

Dependent on the division, the districts and cities are controlled by either a District Police Command or a City Police Command. These commands then operate through several police stations throughout the state.

Equipment

Officers are also equipped with

baton Baton may refer to: Stick-like objects *Baton, a type of club *Baton (law enforcement) *Baston (weapon), a type of baton used in Arnis and Filipino Martial Arts *Baton charge, a coordinated tactic for dispersing crowds of people *Baton (conducti ...

s and

pepper spray Pepper spray, oleoresin capsicum spray, OC spray, capsaicin spray, mace, or capsicum spray is a Tear gas, lachrymator (tear gas) product containing as its active ingredient the chemical compound capsaicin, which irritates the eyes with burning ...

for use as a less lethal option.Magazin ''Öffentliche Sicherheit'', Ausgabe 1/2 2009: „Verhältnismäßiges Einschreiten“ (Ministry of Interior)
(german)

Ranks and rank insignia

;Commissioners ;Leading officers ;Supervising officers and police officers File:Bundespolizei Österreich Kragendistinktionen 2015 A1 4.png,

Senior Principal Legal Officer Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

File:Bundespolizei Österreich Kragendistinktionen 2015 A1 3.png,

Principal Legal Officer Principal may refer to: Title or rank * Principal (academia), the chief executive of a university ** Principal (education), the head of a school * Principal (civil service) or principal officer, the senior management level in the UK Civil Servi ...

File:Bundespolizei Österreich Kragendistinktionen 2015 A1 2.png,
Senior Legal Officer File:Bundespolizei Österreich Kragendistinktionen 2015 A1 1.png,

Legal Officer Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the art ...

File:Bundespolizei Österreich Kragendistinktionen 2015 M6.png,
Chief Surgeon of the Ministry of Interior File:Bundespolizei Österreich Kragendistinktionen 2015 M5.png,
Deputy Chief Surgeon of the Ministry of Interior File:Bundespolizei Österreich Kragendistinktionen 2015 M4.png,
Chief Surgeon File:Bundespolizei Österreich Kragendistinktionen 2015 M3.png,
Deputy Chief Surgeon File:Bundespolizei Österreich Kragendistinktionen 2015 M2.png,
Contract Surgeon
With 20 years service File:Bundespolizei Österreich Kragendistinktionen 2015 M1.png,
Contract Surgeon File:Bundespolizei Österreich Aufschubdistinktionen 2015 S3.png, File:Bundespolizei Österreich Aufschubdistinktionen 2015 S2.png, File:Bundespolizei Österreich Aufschubdistinktionen 2015 S1.png, File:Bundespolizei Österreich Aufschubdistinktionen 2015 PM2.png, File:Bundespolizei Österreich Aufschubdistinktionen 2015 PM1.png,

Historical ranks

File:Bundespolizei distinktionen 2005 wachkörper.png, Ranks of the Federal Police guard body File:Bundespolizei distinktionen 2005 andere.png, Ranks for legal and police medical services and other uniformed staff

References

External links

Official Austrian Police Website
{{Authority control Federal law enforcement agencies of Austria