Schutzpolizei

Schutzpolizei

Schutzpolizei der Tanoa Einsatzgruppen
Agency overview
Formed	15 April 1970
Dissolved	30 November 2024
Type	Urban uniformed police branch
Jurisdiction	Urban areas and intercity roads in directly governed territories of the Tanoa Einsatzgruppen
Headquarters	Georgetown, Tanoa
Parent agency	Ordnungspolizei

The Schutzpolizei was the urban uniformed police branch of the Ordnungspolizei from 15 April 1970 to 30 November 2024. It handled ordinary policing in cities and larger towns under direct Tanoa Einsatzgruppen rule. Its Verkehrspolizei also policed highways and intercity roads. The Generalinspekteur der Schutzpolizei headed the branch from Georgetown, while territorial commands directed it in Argentina and Fiji.

History

Jan Paap created the Schutzpolizei when the Ordnungspolizei was formed on 15 April 1970. Existing Argentine police stations remained open, but officers assigned to urban policing were transferred into the new branch. Rural police entered the Gendarmerie. Command assignments changed before all transferred officers had received Ordnungspolizei uniforms. Ícaro Barragán, an Oberkommando police-planning officer who had helped design the reorganization, became the first Generalinspekteur der Schutzpolizei.

In 1971, Rodolfo Barrenechea added the Gemeinden der Schutzpolizei for municipalities that did not require a larger city command. After Fiji was annexed in 1975, officers working at urban police stations were transferred into the Schutzpolizei. Most stayed at the stations where they had already worked. Tanoa later expanded the police site at Samabula into the main Ordnungspolizei complex in Fiji. The Fiji territorial command and the Suva Schutzpolizei command operated from the site.

The Schutzpolizei took part in the first response to the Suva Crisis on 31 December 1979. At 3:27 p.m., Totogo Central Police Station sent 24 officers toward Korovou Prison, seven minutes after the disturbance began. About 45 armed resistance supporters were outside the prison when the detachment arrived. The officers opened fire immediately and later lost their position during fighting on Foster Road. The Samabula command then sent another 80 Schutzpolizei officers.

On 16 March 2001, the Oberkommando leadership removed Barragán after a six-week internal investigation into his protection of Nexum Tanoa Biotechnik, the principal beneficiary of the arrangement. The inquiry also covered his dealings with Asterión Werke AG and Helikon Agraria. Ottavio Brandt, the Buenos Aires-born commander of an internal-investigations office within the Argentine Schutzpolizei, personally directed the investigation. His team connected suppressed complaints with restrictions on searches and traced unexplained assets to Barragán. Barragán had received secret payments and property from the companies, including financial assets concealed from state accounts. The investigation led directly to Brandt becoming acting Generalinspekteur that day. He received the permanent appointment on 2 April 2001 and remained in office until the Schutzpolizei ended on 30 November 2024, making him its final permanent Generalinspekteur.

On 9 April 2001, one week after his permanent appointment, Brandt established the Hauptinspektionsamt der Schutzpolizei as his first major reform. The new inspectorate reported directly to the Generalinspekteur and could investigate every territorial Schutzpolizei command. It replaced the territorial internal-investigations offices and sent teams from Georgetown to examine individual cases. Brandt's written authorization allowed a team to search Schutzpolizei premises without the approval of the territorial command under investigation. The team could also seize records and suspend officers while the case remained open. The inspectorate submitted its findings to Brandt, who decided how the officers were disciplined and whether to transfer criminal evidence to the TSHA.

The inspectorate's first major investigation was Fall Nachtglas in 2001. It concerned officers of the Buenos Aires Schutzpolizei who destroyed records tied to Barragán's protection arrangement. Fourteen officers were implicated. Nine were dismissed for lesser participation. The five principal offenders were transferred to the TSHA and executed after conviction. Investigators reconstructed most of the destroyed records from duplicate archives.

During the Battle of Georgetown, fought from 24 to 30 November 2024, the Hauptinspektionsamt attempted to evacuate senior staff and selected files toward Buenos Aires. Personnel remaining at its headquarters tried to destroy as many other files as possible. The Tanoa Resistance wiped out the office during its prolonged ground assault, and many people died at the site.

Central control over the Schutzpolizei broke down after the battle began on 24 November. City units continued operating where officers remained at their stations, but Georgetown no longer controlled every territorial command. Brandt remained at the central Schutzpolizei headquarters and directed the commands that still answered to Georgetown. The remaining central command surrendered on 30 November, after which Brandt was captured. The Schutzpolizei ceased to exist that day when the Tanoa Einsatzgruppen stopped functioning as an organized government.

Organization

The Generalinspekteur der Schutzpolizei headed the branch beneath the Chef der Ordnungspolizei. Territorial commands controlled the Schutzpolizei within directly governed territory. Argentina's command operated from Buenos Aires. After the police complex at Samabula was developed, the Fiji command operated from that site.

The Schutzpolizei introduced numbered Kontrollkreise when it was formed in 1970. In large cities, each existing police station became the Kontrollwache for its former district. The district received a number, but its boundaries remained mostly unchanged. A Kontrollführer led each Kontrollwache. Officers normally served in their assigned district, although the city command could move them when another Kontrollkreis needed reinforcement. A Kontrollwache could hold arrested people for a short period. When an arrest developed into a criminal or political investigation, the detainee was transferred to the TSHA.

The Gemeinden der Schutzpolizei formed the municipal layer beneath the branch. The Verkehrspolizei handled traffic policing. Each major city command maintained a Verkehrspolizei section under the local Schutzpolizei commander. Every administrative region also had a Verkehrspolizei command beneath the territorial Schutzpolizei command. The regional commands policed highways and intercity roads. They coordinated the city sections without taking over their daily operations.

Personnel and discipline

After the original police transfers, the territorial commands recruited new Schutzpolizei officers locally. Locally recruited officers served mainly in the lower and middle ranks. Promotion to a higher rank was almost impossible for them. Higher promotions required approval from the territorial command and went overwhelmingly to Argentines and Einsatzers. Most senior Schutzpolizei posts were held by those groups.

Each territorial command maintained a Schutzpolizei training school. Georgetown issued the curriculum, which included the racial rules used by the force.

A Kontrollführer could impose minor disciplinary punishments within a Kontrollkreis. Cases that could result in suspension or dismissal went to the city or territorial command. The same higher commands handled conduct that could lead to imprisonment. Disobeying orders and abandoning an assigned post were treated seriously. Bribery could also lead to punishment when it affected police work.

Racial enforcement and abuse

Main article: Racial policy of the Tanoa Einsatzgruppen

Native Tanoans and Black people did not receive the same police protection as other residents. Schutzpolizei commanders frequently ignored violence against them unless it interfered with police work or broke a written rule.

The Neger Buch was introduced in 1976. People recorded under it were required to carry the document and present it when security or administrative authorities demanded it. Schutzpolizei officers used the document during identity checks.

Schutzpolizei officers frequently committed sexual assault against native Tanoan and Black women. Commanders commonly ignored it. Argentines and Einsatzers were prohibited from impregnating native Tanoan or Black women.

See also

• Sicherheitspolizei