For those of you who enjoyed the explanation of police insignia in Baden-W�rttemberg, grab a drink cause the fun continues. 1st Let me say that while American administration of Baden-W�rttemberg, Bavaria and Hessen might have ultimately led to a lot of neat insignia for collectors, it is a bunny to try and document. So without any further complaining, lets press on to the insignia of post war Bavaria.

In keeping with it�s theme of �de-centralized policing� the US Military Government once established two separate police agencies. The �Gendarmerie� which patrolled the rural areas and �Stadt or Gemeinde Polizei� which were responsible for policing in cities with over 5,000 inhabitants. In early 1946, the title Gendarmerie was replaced with �Landpolizei�. I have not seen a �Gendarmerie� patch before. Additionally, Bavaria is comprised of 7 administrative districts and at one time each district had it�s own separate insignia. (Photo 1)

My research has determined that there were approximately 152 of these city police departments with their own individual patches, breast badges and hat badges. Eventually these local departments would be merged into the state police generally beginning with the ones employing the fewest officers. The mergers began in January 1953 with the city police of Olching. Munich was the last to be merged on October 1st, 1975. (Photo 2)

Subsequently, the state police changed their title from Landpolizei to Landespolizei. (Photo 3)

From 1946-1952, training for the state police was conducted at the Landpolizeischule. In 1953, when the mergers began. Training was centralized under the auspices of the Bayerische Polizeischule. I�m not positive if there was ever an insignia for the original Landpolizeischule, but the subsequent Bayerische Polizeischule did have their own insignia. In 1951 a separate Alert (Disorder) Police (Bereitschaftspolizei) was instituted and along with it came a distinct patch. (Photo 4)

Another interesting aspect of Bavaria law enforcement is that beginning in 1946 and continuing to 1998, Bavaria maintained a border police �Grenzpolizei�. They also had their own separate and distinct insignia. (Photo 5) While originally an independent authority, in 1952 it became a sub-command within the State Police. Additionally, the Bavarian Police also maintains it�s own Mountain Rescue unit �Polizeibergfuhrer�, originally part of the Grenzpolizei, the unit evolved into a specialized mountain rescue unit and has it�s own insignia (Photo 5)

All insignia, Landespolizei, Bereitschaftspolizei and Grenzpolizei were worn until the reorganization in the mid 70�s. These were replaced with the standardized uniform featuring hat badge, patch, and rank. Each state would have one uniform for normal patrol officers (Green) and one for water patrol (Blue). (Photo 6) Bavaria has not begun the changeover to the new uniforms as of June 2007.

The Landeskriminalamt (LKA) is the state criminal police agency of the Bavarian police which is headquartered in Munich. (Photo 7) Their duties included forensics, bomb disposal, hostage negotiations, narcotics and organized crime investigations. Each state maintains their own LKA, which is directly subordinate to the state ministry of the interior. There is also a federal version which will be discussed later.

From the late 80�s to present there has been a growth of what is refereed to as �special unit� insignia. While some are officially worn, others remain novelty products of the units or organizations. I have depicted a few of these (Photo 8).

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask. Andrew

Interested in all 3rd Reich & Post WWII Polizei Insignia