The Bereitschaftspolizei ("Alert Police" or "Emergency Police") are the barracked mobile police of Germany.

Federal Republic

The Federal Ministry of the Interior maintains an office of the Bereitschaftspolizei which monitors and coordinates the deployment of all Bereitschaftspolizei units in Germany. The ministry also provides standardized weapons, vehicles and other equipment.

Federal

The Bundespolizei performs these functions by maintaining 11 battalions stationed throughout Germany. These units can be called on to reinforce the federal police in any sphere of its duties, and also to support the polices gorces of the Länder. They are also trained to assist the authorities in case of disasters and uprisings. They are equipped with armored vehicles, buses, water cannons and firearms. Bundespolizei or BPol for short, is the Federal Police of Germany. ...

Landers/States

The Bereitschaftspolizei are part of the Landespolizei and are available in each land for crowd control duties and to assist the Schupos (Schutzpolizei) when needed. Aside from their primary function of crowd control they also provide the training of new police recruits who serve about three years in combined training and service in the alert police. The alert police of one federal land can be deployed to assist the police of another land in case of riots, civil disturbances and catastrophes. Landespolizei is a term used in the Federal Republic of Germany to denote the law enforcement services which patrol the German Bundesländer and is the approximite equivalent to the State police in the United States of America. ... Flag of the Ordnungspolizei The Ordnungspolizei was the name for the regular German police force that existed in Nazi Germany between the years of 1936 and 1945. ...

The Bereitschaftspolizei are assigned to barracks where they are organized along military lines into sections, platoons, and 120 to 150 member training or standby companies called "Hunderschaften". In most Länder, the Bereitschaftspolizei contingents are formed into 600 - 800 member battalions, but in the six larger lander they are organized into regiments. Their day-to-day duties vary by locality, in Hamburg they patrol the subway system, assist in raids in the red-light district, and are present at large demonstrations and soccer matches. The units are equipped with their own transport, tents, and rations allowing them to be shifted quickly to other Länder without having to rely on outdide support. The Bereitschaftspolizei are equipped with armored vehicles, water cannons. Barracks is usally used to connote a type of military housing. ... Hamburgs central promenade Jungfernstieg on the Alster lake, between 1900 and 1914 Hamburg is Germanys second largest city (after Berlin) and, with the Hamburg Harbour, its principal port. ... The De Wallen red-light district in Amsterdam. ...

Former German Democratic Republic

The East German Ministry of the Interior maintained the independent Department of the Alert Units of the Volkspolizei. It contained from 12,000 to 15,000 men (sources disagree) in 21 Volkspolizei Alert Units of battalion strength. There were usually on Alert Unit per District of East Germany but the key districts of Halle, Leipzig and Magdeburg, with their large working class populations, and Potsdam all had two Units. The Presidium of the People's Police in East Berlin had three Units located in Basdorf. East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR), German Deutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR), was a socialist country that existed from 1949 to 1990. ... A 1:87 scale model of a Volkspolizei police car The Volkspolizei (German: Peoples Police) was the national police of East German, whose officers were commonly nicknamed VoPos. ... Map of Germany showing Halle Halle (also called Halle an der Saale in order to distinguish from Halle in North Rhine-Westphalia) is the largest town in the German Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt. ... Leipzig â–¶(?) [] (Sorbian/Lusatian: Lipsk) is the largest city in the federal state (Bundesland) of Saxony in Germany. ... Magdeburg, the capital city of the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, lies on the Elbe river. ... Potsdam is the capital city of the state of Brandenburg in Germany. ... East Berlin was the name given to the eastern part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. ...

Each Alert unit was organized as follows:

• Headquarters Section
• Four Alert Companies:
  • One Mechanized Company in wheeled armored personnel carriers
  • Three Motorized Companies in trucks
• Support Company
  • Anti-tank Platoon with 3x45mm/57mm(later ATGM's)
  • Artillery platoon with 3x76.2mm ZIS3 field/anti-tank guns
  • Mortar Platoon with 3x82mm mortars
• Headquarters and staff company with:
  • signals platoon
  • engineer platoon
  • chemical platoon
  • reconnaissance platoon
  • transport platoon
  • supply platoon
  • control section
  • medical section

These Units were equipped with light and medium infantry weapons, wheeled armored personnel carriers, water cannon and buses. Their uniform was the standard Volkspolizei grey-green. The SED placed great importance to the political reliability of the Alert Units as they were supposed to be used against the population as reliable tools in the event of social disorders such as the popular uprisings of 17 June 1953 in the industrial areas of East Germany. East German BRDMs on parade during celebrations of the 40th anniversary of East Germany in 1989 Armoured personnel carriers (APCs) are light armoured fighting vehicles for the transport of infantry. ... A water cannon is a device that shoots a high-pressure stream of water. ... TheBus, established by Mayor Frank Fasi, is Honolulus only public transit system. ... The logo of the SED The Socialist Unity Party of Germany (German: Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands, or SED) was the governing party of East Germany from its formation in 1949 until the elections of 1990. ... Protestors marching through the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin The Uprising of 1953 in East Germany took place in June and July 1953. ...