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A GAK foto of a BBP patrol in the far southeastern part of our
sector. The BBP officers are from Coburg. Ritter |
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Bayerische Grenzpolizei - Bavarian Border Police
The Bavarian Border Police, BBP, was a branch of the ' Country
Police ' in the West German state of Bavaria. As in many rural
areas, civil police patrolling is conducted regionally . This is
similar to sheriff operations in the rural American midwest and
southwest. The BBP was developed in 1945 to assist US constabulary
operations in refugee, smuggling control and law enforcement along
the Bavarian border area. They soon became fully independent and
were responsible to the Justice Minister of Bavaria for the
enforcement of civil law along a belt thirty kilometers deep in the
border area. In the Eaglehorse sector, the belt appeared to be
about twenty kilometers deep. Normally, the BBP did not have border
observation responsibilities, however, because they were in daily
contact with the West Germans living in the small towns and villages
in the immediate border area, they had a wealth of knowledge. They
exchanged information with the BGS and Customs Police on a daily
basis.
As coordination between all border activities improved in the mid
1980's, they attended monthly meetings with the BGS and 2/11 ACR .
In our sector, the BBP had offices in Fladungen, Mellrichstadt and
Bad Konigshoffen. The German state of Hesse, northwest of our
sector, had a similar rural border police. After the border
fell, the BBP was integrated into the Bavarian Country Police with
the exception of a small detachment operating at the international
airport in Munich.
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