The Bundeskriminalamt, as the central police agency in Germany, coordinates crime suppression at national and international level. In general, it is responsible for police communications with the law enforcement and judicial authorities as well as with other public authorities in other countries. The Bundeskriminalamt places great emphasis on international co-operation in the field of law enforcement. The Bundeskriminalamt has well-established contacts with almost all the central police offices around the globe.

Under the address “Interpol Wiesbaden” the BKA, as the National Central Bureau for the International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO), uses the most modern means of communication to exchange messages with its counterparts throughout the world. At European level, EUROPOL – the “European Police Office” in which all EUmember states are represented – is a central partner for cooperation. As the national unit for Europol, the BKA also performs central duties for Germany.

Germany’s national central office for the Schengen Information System (SIS), known as SIRENE (Supplementary Information Request at the National Entry), was set up at the Bundeskriminalamt as well. After the elimination of checks on persons at the internal borders of the Schengen countries, persons who are wanted by individual Schengen states, or who are to be refused entry into the Schengen area, are now circulated at transnational level in the SIS.

The BKA is the German partner for the police forces of other European countries and the rest of the world, and it currently maintains a global network of 64 liaison officers serving in 50 countries who obtain information of significance for law enforcement in Germany. They route information from the German police to the respective foreign countries. They also provide extensive information for future-oriented crime assessments that can be used as a starting point to make basic strategy decisions for the BKA and to take measures aimed at the effective prevention and prosecution of crime. Such co-operation is not one-sided. Liaison officers sent by the BKA’s most important foreign police partners are accredited at the Bundeskriminalamt.

In addition, the BKA trains scholarship holders from all over the world and familiarizes them with the instruments and methods of modern investigative work. The police-level contacts established in this way lead to significant improvements of information channels and serve to support specific proceedings involving other countries.