Sicherheitspolizei

Security Police

Sicherheitspolizei (SiPo)
SiPo officers in Marseilles during World War II
Agency overview
Formed	26 June 1936
Preceding agency	Gestapo and Kripo
Dissolved	22 September 1939
Superseding agency	Reich Security Main Office (RSHA)
Type	State Security Police
Jurisdiction	Germany Occupied Europe
Headquarters	Prinz-Albrecht-Straße, Berlin
Employees	245,000 (1940)[1]
Ministers responsible	Wilhelm Frick (nominal authority) 1936–1939, Interior Minister Heinrich Himmler 1936–1939, Chef der Deutschen Polizei
Agency executive	SS-Gruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich 1936–1939, Director, SiPo and Gestapo

The Sicherheitspolizei (English: Security Police), often abbreviated as SiPo, was a term used in Germany for security police. In the Nazi era, it referred to the state political and criminal investigation security agencies. It was made up by the combined forces of the Gestapo (secret state police) and the Kriminalpolizei (criminal police; Kripo) between 1936 and 1939. As a formal agency, the SiPo was incorporated into the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) in 1939, but the term continued to be used informally until the end of World War II in Europe.