Law Enforcement in Germany - Training

Training

Police training is primarily the responsibility of the individual Länder, although the federal government provides assistance and coordination. The high level of police professionalism is attributed in large degree to the length and thoroughness of training. The situation is different in the five new Länder of eastern Germany. Long accustomed to a compliant society, police forces of the eastern Länder have been described as understaffed, undertrained, poorly equipped, and woefully unprepared to cope with the challenges posed by the growing numbers of far right skinheads and neo-Nazis engaged in violent hate crimes against foreign workers and refugees.

Most police recruits spend about three years in combined training and service in the Readiness Police, although the training time may be shorter depending on previous education. Recruits are exempt from military service. Training encompasses a six-month course at a police school that provides a grounding in law, legal procedures, and police conduct. After about six years of duty as a patrol officer, an individual with an outstanding record who does well on a highly competitive examination can go on to two or three years at a higher police school or a college of public administration to qualify for the upper echelon. The very few candidates who qualify for the highest ranks of the police study for one year at the Federal Police Leadership Academy in Münster-Hiltrup.