1 – INTRODUCTION Every year since 2012, the National Agency has set itself an annual topic to focus its activities on. In 2017, the topic chosen was the deprivation of liberty by the police. Since taking up its responsibilities in 2009, the National Agency has visited police stations throughout all of Germany. These visits are typically conducted without prior notice. 20 In Germany, there are some 1,270 stations of the 21 Länder Police, and 139 Federal Police facilities with custody suites. In 2017, the National Agency visited a total of 43 police stations in all of Germany’s 16 Länder. Four of these visits were follow-up visits to stations that had already been visited in Bavaria, Hamburg, Saarland and Saxony. Visits were carried out to three Federal Police facilities, two of which were follow-up visits. Further noteworthy visits included inspections at the police mass detention center in HamburgHarburg, which was set up on the occasion of the G20 Summit, and at the police station at Theresienwiese in Munich where the annual Oktoberfest is held. 20 According to data from the Ministries of the Interior of the Länder from 2015. 21 According to data from the Federal Ministry of the Interior from 2015. 27