The Federal Gendarmerie () was an Austrian federal police agency. It was responsible for approximately two thirds of the population on approximately 98% of Austrian national territory, alongside the Federal Safety Guard Corps (Bundessicherheitswachekorps) and Detective Corps (Kriminalbeamtenkorps). All Austrian law enforcement agencies were merged into the Federal Police (Bundespolizei) agency, with effect from 1 July 2005.
History
K.k. Gendarmerie
The idea to establish a Gendarmerie (from : "armed people") military force charged with police duties originated from the Revolutions of 1848 in the Austrian Empire. It was formed on 8 June 1849 by order of Emperor Francis Joseph as a component of the k.k. Army, modelled on the Gendarmerieregiment in the Austrian Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia incorporated upon the 1815 Congress of Vienna. Up to then 1776 set up "military police corps" existed in Austria as a militarily organized corps alone in large cities like Vienna, Lemberg, Krakau, Przemyśl.
Johann Franz Kempen, Baron of Fichtenstamm, was appointed first General-Gendarmerie-Inspector. While it was originally a military corps responsible for the whole Austrian Empire, gradually over the second half of the nineteenth century it became responsible for public order. Initially composed of eighteen regiments and part of the army, its operational command was transferred to the Austrian Ministry for the Interior in 1860 and wholly severed from the armed forces in 1867. Nevertheless, training, uniforms, ranks, and even pay remained patterned after the army. The military origins were still represented in the retention of the old insignia, a flaming grenade, after the Gendamerie became a component of the civil administration in 1918. The predominantly grey uniform also owed its inspiration to the Austro-Hungarian Army.
Beside for the maintenance of the public order, the k.k. Gendarmerie became a vital instrument for suppression of constitutional or democratic ambitions during the post-revolutionary era of Austrian neo-absolutism in the 1850s and 60s, which brought it the hate of the middle class.
Austro-Hungarian Monarchy
After the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, the Cisleithanian k.k. Gendarmerie was no longer responsible for the Transleithanian lands controlled by the Hungarian Armed Forces (). The control over the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia and the Principality of Transylavania did not pass to the Hungarian forces until 1876. In 1881 the Royal Hungarian (k.u.) Gendarmerie (Csendőrség) was established.
With the implementation of the Austrian Gendarmerie Law on 2 February 1876, it was finally separated from the Austro-Hungarian Army, though the newly established agency was still answerable to the Austrian Minister of Defence and its service members were officially part of the Cisleithanian Landwehr armed forces.
Before World War I, fingerprint analysis (dactyloscopy) and police dogs had been introduced. A special Alpine branch was formed in 1906, mainly to protect the part of Tyrol that bordered the Kingdom of Italy. Since then, alpine rescue operations and border patrols have remained an important Gendarmerie function. During the First World War, the Gendarmerie was used in a number of roles including maintaining public order in the hinterland areas as military police (Feldgendarmerie), fighting espionage and partisans, and arresting deserters. In addition, they also provided scout, courier and orderly assistance to the General Staff.
First Austrian Republic
After the war the Gendarmerie in the Republic of Austria remained militarily organized, but was employed for civilian tasks. Not until 1918/19 the gendarmes officially became public servants, no longer subordinate to military law but to civil jurisdiction. After the lost war, considering Austria's shrunken size, the number of Gendarmerie service members was largely reduced.
In 1934, the Gendarmerie were involved in the Austrian Civil War and increasingly infiltrated by Nazis. After the 1938 Anschluss to Nazi Germany, several high ranking gendarmes were interned in concentration camps and large numbers of gendarmes were locked up, dismissed, retired or transferred for disciplinary reasons. The remainder were integrated into the German Ordnungspolizei.