Abstract

Swiss governmental power is divided vertically into three main levels, the Confederation, followed by cantons and communes. Each level has its own - to some extent autonomous - executive, judicative and legislative authorities, which are however obliged to follow higher-ranking cantonal and federal law. In the small Confederation a multipartite police law has developed. In addition to their police laws, the twenty-six cantons have concluded regional and nationwide inter-cantonal agreements for their crossborder cooperation, but also, for example, for the prevention of danger of hooligans. Only to a very limited extent have the cantons enacted provisions for harmonisation, for example with regard to the licensing of private security companies and for police data protection. Further the judical review by the Swiss Federal Supreme Court is essential for the formation of nationwide standards of police law, which is carried out within the framework of an abstract examination of a decree or an intercantonal agreement. For both factual and political reasons, federal police law has developed intensively over the last two decades. In particular, the Confederation is responsible for maintaining special criminal police databases covering the whole of Switzerland as well as for operating search registers linked to the Schengen and Europol areas. However, the Confederation also has executive police forces, namely the so-called Swiss Border Guard, i. e. the customs police, which today assumes the role of a federal police force, as well as a railway police force for the Federal Railways and the bodies responsible for air security. In addition, the Confederation can deploy the armed forces, in a double sense subsidiarily, i. e. to support the civilian authorities (e. g. in securing foreign representations in Switzerland) and cumulatively only in extraordinary situations (e. g. national disasters). However, since federal decrees cannot be subject to a review of norms by the Federal Supreme Court, federal police law develops without regard to the constitutional standards of the Federal Supreme Court. A model law that not only provides a guide for the cantons but would also be exemplary for the Confederation would be conceivable and valuable. Nevertheless, the great legislative autonomy of the member states to date has also repeatedly allowed for creative modernisation, the significance of which is considerable for the comparison of laws within Switzerland.