Line #32 UsefulNotes/TheThinFormerlyGreenLine


1	[[quoteright:350:https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_polizei-fans-514_4773.jpg]][[caption-width-right:350:Priorities are everything.]]
2
3	->'''Policeman:''' Fräulein, you can't swim in this lake. It's illegal.\
4	'''Woman:''' Couldn't you have told me that ''before'' I stripped naked?!\
5	'''Policeman:''' [[CovertPervert Stripping naked]] [[LawfulStupid isn't illegal]].
6	-->-- '''[[GermanHumour A German joke]]'''
7
8	This page is about the ''Polizei'': the law enforcement in UsefulNotes/TheBerlinRepublic, and UsefulNotes/WestGermany before that.
9
10	It is, similarly to US law enforcement, not a single entity, but a multitude of police forces operating both on regional (well, state) and national level. It used to be different, both under UsefulNotes/NaziGermany and UsefulNotes/EastGermany, who once opted for highly centralised, paramilitary police forces (being ideal for autocratic states) rather than the [[SarcasmMode quirky and freedom-loving lawmen they are nowadays]].
11
12	Every German ''[[UsefulNotes/TheSixteenLandsOfDeutschland Land]]'' has its own police force, and then there are federal entities like the ''Bundespolizei'',[[note]]which answers to the Ministry of the Interior and handles everything border and transportation-related; so whenever you come to Germany, those would be the first and last guys you'd see; plus, they're also the umbrella organisation of the famed [[ElitesAreMoreGlamorous GSG-9]][[/note]] the ''Bundeszollverwaltung''[[note]]or just ''Zoll'': Customs, which answers to the Ministry of Finance[[/note]] and the ''Bundeskriminalamt''.[[note]]Federal Crime Office, which answers to the Ministry of the Interior, and is tasked with handling organised and cross-state crime - basically the German version of the FBI.[[/note]]
13
14	The Polizei doesn't necessarily share (or [[OldFashionedCopper no longer shares]]) certain other countries' stereotypes of being [[PoliceBrutality overly violent]], [[DirtyCop corrupt]] or even [[DonutMessWithACop lazy]] (remember, they're [[GermanicEfficiency German]]), but they are still gladly depicted as [[MeddlesomePatrolman stuffy, pompous, ignorant]], [[ObstructiveBureaucrat dictatorially bureaucratic]] and [[OldFashionedCopper racist]], in combination with [[PoliceAreUseless not being terribly smart]].
15
16	As for the "Thin Green Line"... While several German states historically had their policemen, gendarmes and soldiers wear green uniforms (Bavaria in particular), green became Germany's standardised police colour from 1936 to 1945, and again from the 1970s to the early 2000s[[note]]on both sides of the Iron Curtain - though the GDR's ''Volkspolizei'' had colder and more blue-ish hues[[/note]] and consisted of ''[[HighlyConspicuousUniform hilarious]]'' bright green blazers, mustard-yellow shirts (earning them the unfortunate nickname ''Senfmännchen'' - Mustard Men), [[BringMyBrownPants brown trousers]] and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking black ties]].
17
18	After a uniform reform in 2004, each state got to choose their own uniforms; most opted for boring blue (including the ''Bundespolizei''), and some for black (like Hamburg), but Bavaria and Saarland decided to stay green (though they did get rid of the ridiculous green blazers in favour of snazzy black leather jackets). As for many police vehicles - many still retained their greens and whites since repaint ing efforts lagged behind. As of 2017, Bavaria decided to go ''[[UsefulNotes/{{Austria}} Austrian]]'' (of all things), adapting white caps, dark blue overalls with yellow lettering and pale blue lampasses.
19
20	It should be noted that the ''Verfassungsschutz''[[note]]Office for the Protection of the Constitution[[/note]] doesn't count, since it's already supposed to be Germany's [[BigBrotherIsWatchingThisIndex domestic intelligence service]]. Neither do the ''Feldjäger'', which are proper Military Police and hence [[UsefulNotes/WeAreNotTheWehrmacht Not The Wehrmacht]].
21
22	!Portrayals in popular media:
23	* ''Series/{{Tatort}}'' is, naturally, all about the Polizei, and features investigative teams from State Polices all over Germany. Police are usually portrayed sympathetically, if "human" (i.e. almost none of them live HappilyMarried in domestic bliss)
24	* ''Series/AlarmFuerCobra11'': A show about the exciting and dramatic adventures of TheScrappy of Northrhine-Westphalia's police - the ''Autobahnpolizei''.
25	* Then there also is ''Series/{{Fringe}}'', which features the "Wissenschaft Prison" ([[GratuitousGerman whatever the hell that's supposed to mean]]) just outside of Frankfurt, a [[TheAlcatraz ridiculously high security prison]] (''especially'' for German standards), which ''should'' technically be run by the Ministry of Justice, but instead comes off rather... uncomfortably militaristic. In any case, [[BrickJoke the guards there still wear green]].
26	* ''Film/{{The Avengers\|2012}}'' features Loki blowing up a Stuttgart (Württembergian) police car (oddly enough one with ''orange'' light signals, which are reserved for infrastructural and load-bearing vehicles) as it rushes towards his position.
27	* In ''Film/{{Octopussy}}'', Film/JamesBond gets in trouble with a slew of Bavarian cops when he steals a woman's car to break into a US base. Because GTA is SeriousBusiness in [[BerserkButton Germany]].
28	* There still is that old NationalStereotypes joke that [[ThoseWackyNazis still]] gives the German police (an not entirely undeserved) reputation for dracony:
29	--> In heaven, all the [[UsefulNotes/BritishCoppers policemen are British]], all of the [[EverythingSoundsSexierInFrench lovers are French]], all of the [[FoodPorn chefs are Italian]], all of the [[CoolCar cars are German]], and the whole thing is run by the Swiss.
30	--> In hell, '''all of the policemen are German''', all of the lovers are Swiss, all of the [[ForeignQueasine chefs are British]], all of the [[TheAllegedCar cars are French]], and the whole thing is run by the Italians.
31	* ''Series/BabylonBerlin'' offers the late 1920s flavour of the City of Berlin police, focusing on the ''Sittendezernat'' (vice squad), ''Morddezernat'' (homicide squad) and the ''Politische Polizei'' (the ''[[UsefulNotes/TheGestapo Gestapo's]]'' and ''Verfassungsschutz''' predecessor organisation).
32	* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'': Inside the Banana guard station, there is a random plaque of the word "[[GratuitousGerman Polizei]]" on the wall, complete with a German-esque Brunswick star.

Context UsefulNotes / TheThinFormerlyGreenLine