Lower Saxony Ministry of Interiors and Sport – Police Directorate of Brunswick

Strict separation of powers is placing law enforcement firmly in the hands of the federal states in Germany. Each State Police Headquarter is organized as Police Section within the Ministry of Interior and promulgates an own law which lays down the organization and duties of its police. The Police of Lower Saxony is organized in the State Department of Criminal Investigation (LKA), the Police Academy of Lower-Saxony, the Central Police Directorate and 6 Regional Police Directorates.

Brunswick is the second largest city in Lower-Saxony. The Police Directorate of Brunswick is one of the regional directorates and covers an area of more than 5.078 sq km including the independent cities of Brunswick, Wolfsburg and Salzgitter as well as the rural districts of Helmstedt, Wolfenbüttel, Gifhorn, Peine und Goslar. The Police Directorate of Brunswick has around 3000 employees, almost 2500 are serving as police officers within five Police Inspectorates (Polizeiinspektionen) and one Central Criminal Investigation Constabulary (Zentrale Kriminal Inspektion).

As there are two major rivalling football clubs (with three teams) within the Police Directorate of Brunswick, therefore many operational tasks of the police are connected to the football matches. Even though, the clubs do play in separate divisions, one club has even a men’s and a women’s team who will play at international level – Champions League 2015/2016. Also a significant impact on policing has the motorway A2 as the main transit route between eastern and western Europe. Not only for the number of severe road accidents, but also as a smuggling route.

Brunswick is one of the distinguished areas of Research & Development (R&D) within Europe. Within the EU, Brunswick is the leading R&D-intensive region with an investment of nearly 6% of its GNP. Not only research and science have a strong impact on the region also the automotive industry is an important economic factor for the region. One of the largest employers in the region is VOLKSWAGEN.