What is "kriminalpolizei"

is the standard term for the criminal investigation agency within the police forces of Germany, Austria and the German-speaking cantons of Switzerland. In Nazi Germany during 1936, the Kripo became the Criminal Police Department for the entire Reich. In September 1939, the Kripo became Amt V (Department V), the Criminal Police in the RSHA; which was also known as the Reichskriminalpolizeiamt (Reich Criminal Police Department or RKPA). Today, in the Federal Republic of Germany, the state police ( Landespolizei) perform the majority of investigations. Its Criminal Investigation Department is known as the Kriminalpolizei or, more colloquially, the Kripo.

The equivalent division of the Norwegian Police is known as Kripos, derived from a similar acronym in Norwegian.

Kriminalpolizei, often abbreviated as Kripo, is the German name for a criminal investigation department. This article deals with the criminal investigation departments of Nazi Germany.

The Kripo consisted of the Reichskriminalpolizeiamt, later Amt V of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt, and its directly subordinated criminal investigation centers (Kripo-Leitstellen and Kripo-Stellen), as well as the criminal investigation divisions of the local state (Staatliche Kriminalabteilungen) and municipal police departments (Gemeindekriminalpolizeiabteilungen). In 1943 both the latter became directly subordinated to the criminal investigation centers. The personnel consisted of detectives in the Junior Criminal Investigation Career, the Executive Criminal Investigation Career, and the Female Criminal Investigation Career.