''Reichskriminalpolizeiamt'' (RKPA), was

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

's central criminal investigation department, founded in 1936 after the Prussian central criminal investigation department ''(Landeskriminalpolizeiamt)'' became the national criminal investigation department for Germany. It was merged, along with the secret state police department, the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

, as two sub-branch departments of the ''

Sicherheitspolizei The often abbreviated as SiPo, is a German term meaning "security police". In the Nazi Germany, Nazi era, it referred to the state political and criminal investigation security agency, security agencies. It was made up by the combined forces of ...

'' (SiPo). The SiPo was under

Reinhard Heydrich Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich ( , ; 7 March 1904 – 4 June 1942) was a German high-ranking SS and police official during the Nazi era and a principal architect of the Holocaust. He held the rank of SS-. Many historians regard Heydrich ...

's overall command. In September 1939, with the founding of the

Reich Security Main Office The Reich Security Main Office ( , RSHA) was an organization under Heinrich Himmler in his dual capacity as ''Chef der Deutschen Polizei'' (Chief of German Police) and , the head of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS). The organization's stat ...

(RSHA), the SiPo as a functioning state agency ceased to exist as a department and was merged into the RSHA.

Organization

The central organization contained a national surveillance register and eleven centers for national crimes. * Fraud * Drugs * Missing persons * Pornography * Trafficking * International pickpockets * Gambling * "

Romani people {{Infobox ethnic group , group = Romani people , image = , image_caption = , flag = Roma flag.svg , flag_caption = Romani flag created in 1933 and accepted at the 1971 World Romani Congress , po ...

" * Serious violent crimes * Professional fraud * Professional burglary The regional and local organizations included: *14 ''Kriminalpolizeileitstellen'' (regional criminal investigation units). *51 ''Kriminalpolizeistellen'' (local criminal investigation units).

Merger

In 1936, the RKPA was formed after the Prussian central criminal investigation department ''(Landeskriminalpolizeiamt)'' became the national criminal investigation department for Germany. The state police agencies in Germany were then statutorily divided into the ''

Ordnungspolizei The ''Ordnungspolizei'' (''Orpo'', , meaning "Order Police") were the uniformed police force in Nazi Germany from 1936 to 1945. The Orpo was absorbed into the Nazi monopoly of power after regional police jurisdiction was removed in favour of t ...

'' (uniformed police) and the ''

'' (state security police; SiPo). The RKPA was merged, along with the secret state police, the '' Geheime Staatspolizei'' or Gestapo as two sub-branch departments of the SiPo.

was placed in overall command of the SiPo and its central command office, the '' Hauptamt Sicherheitspolizei''. He was already head of the ''

Sicherheitsdienst ' (, "Security Service"), full title ' ("Security Service of the ''Reichsführer-SS''"), or SD, was the intelligence agency of the Schutzstaffel, SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. Established in 1931, the SD was the first Nazi intelligence ...

'' (SD) and Gestapo. Arthur Nebe was appointed the ''Reichskriminaldirektor'' of the ''Reichskriminalpolizeiamt'', and reported to Heydrich. In September 1939, the

(RSHA) was created as the command organization for the various state investigation and security agencies. The ''Hauptamt Sicherheitspolizei'' was officially abolished and its departments were folded into the RSHA. The ''Reichskriminalpolizeiamt'' became Amt V (Department V), the ''

Kriminalpolizei ''Kriminalpolizei'' (, "criminal police") is the standard term for the criminal investigation agency within the police forces of Germany, Austria, and the German-speaking cantons of Switzerland. In Nazi Germany, the Kripo was the criminal polic ...

'' (Criminal Police) in the RSHA.Martin Eberhard (1999), ''Die Kriminalpolizei 1933-1939'' (Universität Konstanz, Philosophische Fakultät
2013-12-15. On 15 August 1944, Friedrich Panzinger took over as chief of Amt V in the RSHA until the end of the war in Europe.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Reichskriminalpolizeiamt Police forces of Nazi Germany Reich Security Main Office