The police in North Rhine-Westphalia look after around 2,200 km of freeways and motorway-like federal highways. This also includes a large number of rest areas and service stations.
Regional responsibility for this extensive road network, in which the police maintain numerous freeway police stations, lies with the police authorities in Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Münster and Bielefeld, which each maintain their own "freeway police" traffic inspectorate in the traffic directorates.
The main focus of police work is traffic monitoring, particularly with regard to distraction caused by smartphones, excessive speed (speeders), insufficient distance (tailgaters) and load safety.