Switzerland: police & security agencies
01 January 1991
Switzerland: police & security agencies
bacdoc July=1995
The information in this country file was first published in the
handbook "Statewatching the new Europe" (November 1993). It was
compiled by Peter Klerks and extracted from a longer report which
is available from: The Domestic Security Research Foundation, PO
Box 11178, 1001 GD, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Switzerland
41,290km², 6,783,961 inhabitants
Long-form name: Swiss Confederation
Type: federal republic
Capital: Bern
Administrative divisions: 26 cantons, of which 6 are half-cantons
(cantons, singular--canton in French; cantoni, singular--cantone
in Italian; kantone, singular--kanton in German)
Constitution: 29 May 1874
Legal system: civil law system influenced by customary law,
judicial review of legislative acts, except with respect to
federal decrees of general obligatory character; accepts
compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations
Executive branch: president, vice president, Federal Council
(German--Bundesrat, French--Conseil Federal, Italian--Consiglio
Federale)
Legislative branch: bicameral Federal Assembly
(German--Bundesversammlung, French--Assemblee Federale,
Italian--Assemblea Federale) consists of an upper council or
Council of States (German--Standerat, French--Conseil des Etats,
Italian--Consiglio degli Stati) and a lower council or National
Council (German--Nationalrat, French--Conseil National,
Italian--Consiglio Nazionale)
Judicial branch: Federal Supreme Court. Prosecution and trial
usually are a cantonal responsibility; prosecution at Federal
level in only undertaken when a case is of particular legal or
political significance.
I. POLICE STRUCTURES & forces
Total no. of police officers (1989 estimate, Hazenberg en
Mulschlegel 1992): 10,000. Women in the police: According to
information from the Association of Swiss Women Police Officers
obtained by the European Network of Policewomen in 1989, Swiss
women police officers mainly carry out CID work and have a
special responsibility for the `human' elements which arise in
the context of police work. No. of police officers per 100,000
inhabitants: 147 (EC av. 338)
The Swiss police is said to exemplify the fragmented system of
policing (Hunter 1990: 118. The following draws largely on Swiss
NCB 1990 and Kurian 1989). The country is a Confederation of 26
sovereign cantons which are invested with their own judicial
authority and police powers and which have their own police
corps. A few cities also have a municipal police corps (Bern,
Zürich), and there is a relatively small state police, the
Bundespolizei. In total there are about 70 police forces. The
National Gendarmerie has fewer than 1,000 personnel, the
individual cantonal police forces (Kantonale Polizei, Police
Cantonale, Polizia Cantonale) together employ about 6,000
personnel, and the Municipal Police (Stadtische Polizei, Police
Municipale, Polizia Communale) of the major cities together are
about 3,000 strong.
At a central level, the Ministry of Justice controls: 1) The
Federal Police Division, formed in 1935, which coordinates
national police activities, including border patrol and traffic
control. These Gendarmerie are a paramilitary force which also
carry out normal policing roles; 2) The Aliens Police operates
in plain clothes and enforces laws governing entry, exit and
residence of foreigners; 3) The Bundesanwaltschaft (Attorney
General's Office) is an office of the Federal Justice and Police
Department which cooperates closely with the examining
magistrates and police forces of the cantons. It is divided into
six sections, of which the following are relevant here:
a) Bundespolizei, in charge of state security and detection and
expulsion of undesirable aliens, thought to number about 30
police officers and an equal number of administrative personnel.
This Bundespolizei cooperates intensively with the 28 regional
and local police intel