administration. Direct-entry candidates with a university degree only study for six months at the DHPol. The executive echelon begins with Polizeirat (one gold star) and culminates with the Land chief of uniformed police (gold wreath with one to three stars) or Federal Police chief (gold wreath with four stars). The DHPol that the states and Federal Interior Ministry administer jointly also provides specialized vocational courses for senior police personnel. Sidearm All Landespolizei officers carry handguns while on duty. Each German state's Landespolizei differ from other states in what sidearm they carry; this list includes some of the weapons utilized by various Landespolizei, as well as weapons that have been phased out: Heckler & Koch USP- P10 variant was adopted by Thuringia State Police and Saxony State Police Heckler & Koch P30- Used by Hesse State Police Heckler & Koch VP9- Procurred by Saxony State Police, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern State Police, Lower Saxony State Police, the Brandenburg State Police, the Bavarian State Police and the Berlin Police Heckler & Koch P7- Was used by the Bavarian State Police Sig Sauer P226- Used by Special Deployment Commando of the 16 State Police Forces and several state police forces (currently under replacement) Walther P5- Used by Lower Saxony State Police (replaced by P2000 and later VP9) Walther P99- Utilized by North Rhine-Westphalia Police, Bremen, Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein and Rhineland-Palatinate State Police HK P2000 used by the Baden-Württemberg Police, the Hamburg water police and state police of Lower Saxony Appearance Post WWII From 1945 till 1976, the various Länder had a wide array of insignia and rank. Additionally, uniforms colours varied from green to blue, and various shades thereof. For example, the City State of Hamburg police NCOs wore blue uniforms with inverted British style chevrons and the Schleswig Holstein police wore green uniforms with Third Reich style rank. Bavaria maintained a State Police (Landespolizei) as well as City Police (Gemeinde / Stadt) forces and, as a special feature, an own Border Police (Bayerische Grenzpolizei). Two separate and distinct uniforms were worn during this time by the state police (Green) and City Police (Blue). The last city police force was Munich, which was finally merged into the state police in 1975. This organization was also prevalent in the other American Sector states. Green uniforms From 1945 all German police forces wore different coloured uniforms, but beginning in the mid-seventies the police of all West German Länder and