Hauptamt Sicherheitspolizei (Main Office of the Security Police) was a central state police agency command office in Nazi Germany entrusted with overseeing the Kriminalpolizei (Criminal Police; Kripo) and the Geheime Staatspolizei (Secret State Police; Gestapo) for the years 1936–1939.
On 17 June 1936 all police forces throughout Germany were united, following Adolf Hitler's appointment of Heinrich Himmler as Chief of German Police. Himmler immediately reorganised the police into two groups: the Ordnungspolizei (Order Police; Orpo), consisting of both the national uniformed police and the municipal police, and the Sicherheitspolizei (Security Police; SiPo), consisting of the Kripo and Gestapo.[1] Reinhard Heydrich was appointed chief of the SiPo and was already head of the party Sicherheitsdienst (Security Service; SD) and the Gestapo.[2][3]
In 1936, the Hauptamt Sicherheitspolizei was founded by Himmler, in order to create a centralized command office under Nazi control of the German criminal investigation and secret state police organizations.[4] Therefore, the central office of the national criminal police department, then known as the Reichskriminalpolizeiamt (RKPA), along with the central office of the Gestapo were integrated into the Hauptamt Sicherheitspolizei under Heydrich's overall command.[1][5]
In September 1939, the Reichssicherheitshauptamt or Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) was created as the command organization for the various state investigation and security agencies.[6] The Hauptamt Sicherheitspolizei was officially abolished and its departments were folded into the RSHA. The Gestapo became Amt IV (Department IV) and the Reichskriminalpolizeiamt became Amt V (Department V), the Kriminalpolizei in the RSHA.[6]
Hauptamt Sicherheitspolizei was organized as a central office with three branches.[7]