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Law enforcement in Austria

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Law enforcement in Austria is the responsibility of the Directorate General for Public Security, a subdivision of the Federal Ministry of the Interior located at Herrengasse 7 in Vienna. Over 20,000 police officers are on duty in the Federal Police at more than 1,000 police stations.[citation needed] On lakes and rivers the federal police has over 70 boats and other craft to act as the water police.[citation needed]

Federal Police Volkswagen Sharan
Military Police Volkswagen Golf

Law enforcement agencies

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Federal

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Ministry of Defence

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Financial Police Skoda Octavia

Ministry of Finance

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Armoured vehicle Sonderwagen 4 of the Federal Police

Ministry of the Interior

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The Ministry of the Interior is responsible for:

Standard vehicle of the Justizwache

State

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In general, the nine States of Austria do not operate state law enforcement agencies, except in their specific areas of competence, namely nature conservation and wildlife protection.

Municipalities

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Some Austrian municipalities operate a form of municipal law enforcement agency. In some municipalities, this is known as the City Police (German: Stadtpolizei), or sometimes Community Police (German: Gemeindepolizei) or Community Security Guard (German: Gemeindesicherheitswache). In others, responsibility for policing lies with the federal government and municipalities cannot call these agencies "police", instead naming them "order offices" (German: Ordnungsamt, Ordnungswache), similar in function to a bylaw enforcement officer or code enforcement. In some cases, these organisations are established as private corporations, owned by the municipality, such as the Security Service (German: Ordnungsdienst) of Linz.

Requirements for police officers

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Police officers in Austria must meet certain requirements. These requirements include being at least 18 years of age, Austrian citizenship, an ability to act (not burdened by physical disability), impeccable reputation, Class B driver's licence, if conscripted to the armed forces, to have completed that conscription, and a swimming badge to prove swimming ability.[1]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Fehler".
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