Ordnungspolizei

The Ordnungspolizei was the central uniformed police organization of the Tanoa Einsatzgruppen from 15 April 1970 until 30 November 2024. It placed ordinary police in directly governed territory under a common command headquartered in Georgetown, Tanoa. The organization reported through the Oberkommando der Tanoa Einsatzgruppen, which placed police services among the major institutions beneath the central command. It worked with the Tanoanischssicherheitshauptamt (TSHA) when ordinary police matters developed into criminal or security cases.

Ordnungspolizei

Ordnungspolizei der Tanoa Einsatzgruppen
Central uniformed police organization overview
Formed	15 April 1970
Dissolved	30 November 2024
Jurisdiction	Directly governed territories of the Tanoa Einsatzgruppen
Headquarters	Georgetown, Tanoa
Parent Central uniformed police organization	Oberkommando der Tanoa Einsatzgruppen

The force was created by Jan Paap after a failed multi-agency police response near San Nicolás de los Arroyos in October 1969. Rodolfo Barrenechea, a senior officer from the Policía Federal Argentina, became the first Chef der Ordnungspolizei and held the rank of General der Polizei.

History

Before 1970, Tanoa had no single central organization for ordinary policing. Local police and guard services handled day-to-day police work, while political and internal-security matters were dealt with through the Allgemeine SS and other security offices. When Argentina was annexed in 1965, its civil institutions continued operating under Tanoan control. Existing Argentine police services therefore remained at work through their previous command structures.

On 31 October 1969, five armed men stopped a security van belonging to Banco Mercantil del Paraná on the old Ruta Nacional 9 south of San Nicolás de los Arroyos. The van was carrying m$n 95,000,000 for wage payments at the SOMISA industrial complex. One guard was injured while resisting before the robbers escaped north in a stolen car.

The pursuit continued toward the Santa Fe provincial boundary. Police on both sides of the boundary acted through their own provincial commands, while Federal Police personnel in San Nicolás were responding through a separate chain. Information about the getaway car and roadblocks reached the participating forces at different times. During the pursuit, Santa Fe police fired on an unmarked Buenos Aires police car after mistaking it for a vehicle connected to the robbers. One Buenos Aires police officer was wounded. The mistaken shooting disrupted the cordon and allowed the robbers to pass through the area. All five were nevertheless captured within about 24 hours.

Reports of the response reached Jan Paap while the search was still underway. He described the police involved as "a pack of uniformed swine" and demanded full written reports showing how orders had passed through each command. After receiving the first reports, he summoned senior police commanders for questioning. The officer who had authorized the mistaken fire on the Buenos Aires police car was executed on Paap's order.

Paap then ordered a formal review of policing in Argentina. The review mapped the provincial and federal command structures that had taken part in the pursuit and examined where their authority overlapped. After reading its findings, Paap ordered preparations for one central uniformed police organization.

On 15 April 1970, Paap issued a Führerbefehl creating the Ordnungspolizei. The Oberkommando carried out the transfer of police personnel into the new structure. Barrenechea was appointed General der Polizei and became the first Chef der Ordnungspolizei. The central staff occupied an existing government building in central Georgetown.

Argentina was placed under one Ordnungspolizei command headquartered in Buenos Aires. Existing police stations remained open during the transition, but their officers now answered through the new command structure. Provincial personnel assigned to urban policing entered the Schutzpolizei, while rural policing was placed under the Gendarmerie. Railway security was reorganized separately through the BahnSchutzpolizei, using personnel who had already worked at stations and railway facilities before 1970.

The Ordnungspolizei later added specialist branches as new functions were transferred into the organization. The Postschutz was created in 1972 after attacks and attempted sabotage against postal and telephone facilities in Argentina had required ordinary police to guard affected buildings.

After Fiji was annexed in 1975, its existing police were reorganized beneath a Fiji Ordnungspolizei command headquartered in Suva. Officers generally remained at their existing stations while their command chain was transferred into the Tanoan police structure. Fiji had been incorporated directly into the Tanoan administrative system following the removal of its independent government.

During the Suva Crisis of 31 December 1979 to 2 January 1980, Tanoan-controlled Fijian police took part in the response to the uprising. Delayed and conflicting instructions from Tanoa hindered the first response before direct communications were restored. After the uprising, Barrenechea gave the Fiji Ordnungspolizei command a permanent direct communications line to Georgetown for emergencies. The wider communications system between Fiji and Tanoa was also reorganized after the crisis.

On 24 November 2024, attacks against senior Tanoan leaders disrupted the central government and its command system. Ordnungspolizei headquarters in Georgetown lost effective control of its regional commands after that date. Regional police continued operating locally where personnel remained at their posts. The Ordnungspolizei ceased to exist on 30 November, when the Tanoa Einsatzgruppen stopped functioning as an organized governing authority.

Organization

The Chef der Ordnungspolizei headed the central command in Georgetown. Orders from the Führer of Tanoa passed through the Oberkommando to the organization, while regional police commands directed forces within directly governed territories. Argentina had a single Ordnungspolizei command in Buenos Aires from 1970. Fiji received its own command in Suva after the 1975 annexation.

Police in puppet states were treated differently. Local forces in states such as Liberia remained formally part of their own governments under Tanoan supervision. Rwanda likewise retained its governmental structure while its security institutions operated under Tanoan influence. These forces were not automatically incorporated into the Ordnungspolizei.

The principal branches listed under the Ordnungspolizei were:

• Schutzpolizei – urban uniformed police created with the Ordnungspolizei in 1970.
  • Gemeinden der Schutzpolizei – municipal detachments operating beneath the Schutzpolizei.
• Gendarmerie – rural police created during the 1970 reorganization.
• BahnSchutzpolizei – railway police formed in 1970 from existing railway security personnel.
• Verwaltungspolizei – administrative police added in 1971 after the initial police reorganization.
• Postschutz – protection branch created in 1972 for postal and communications facilities. Its work later extended to government computer and network sites.
• Werkschutzpolizei – industrial and facility protection branch created in 1972.
• Strafvollzugsdienst – prison service created in 1973 when the existing Argentine penitentiary system was transferred into the Ordnungspolizei.
  • Justizbeamte – court officers operating beneath the Strafvollzugsdienst.
• Sicherheitspolizei – armed police reserve formed in 1974 for major unrest and high-risk police operations.
  • Schutzmannschaft Polizei – auxiliary police formations beneath the Sicherheitspolizei.

Criminal and political investigations remained within the separate TSHA structure. The Ordnungspolizei could provide uniformed personnel when those investigations required arrests, searches or local police support.

Personnel and uniforms

Police transferred into the Ordnungspolizei on 15 April 1970 did not all receive new uniforms at once. Their authority and command assignments changed first. Transferred officers received Ordnungspolizei credentials and were assigned ranks within the new system while existing Argentine uniforms remained temporarily authorized.

New insignia were issued for use during the transition. Complete Ordnungspolizei uniforms were then distributed in stages through 1970 and 1971. Buenos Aires and larger commands received new clothing before more distant stations. By later 1971, transferred personnel were expected to use the Ordnungspolizei uniform for normal duty.

This uniform system applied to police formally incorporated into the organization. Police belonging to puppet-state governments could retain their own uniforms because they remained separate local institutions.

See also

• Tanoa Einsatzgruppen
• Oberkommando der Tanoa Einsatzgruppen
• Tanoanischssicherheitshauptamt
• Departments of the Tanoa Einsatzgruppen
• Suva Crisis