In the dispute over an initially announced but then by Horst Seehofer Again, the investigation into racism in the police force does not ease criticism of the Federal Minister of the Interior. Not only representatives of the opposition took action against Seehofer, there is also protest among those whom Seehofer believed to have to protect against prejudice: at the policeman himself.
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Sebastian Fiedler, Federal Executive at the Bund Deutscher Kriminalbeamter (BDK), said the ARD daily topics, the minister “is also doing a disservice to the security authorities themselves” because the rejection “gives the impression that there is something to hide”. But: “Our members of the federal and state criminal police have nothing to hide.”
Seehofer, on the other hand, stayed with his line on Tuesday before consultations with the EU interior ministers: “I don’t see any structural problem in this regard either in the public service or with the Federal Police,” he said. He currently does not consider an investigation into racist police controls to be appropriate. “Now this study is out of the question for me.” Instead, in the ARD “Morgenmagazin”, Seehofer complained that there was constant criticism of the police, “in part also disparagement”.
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The Federal Ministry of the Interior admits that there is discrimination by civil servants, but speaks of individual cases. “Racial profiling” – that is, the suspicious control of people solely because of their skin color or other external characteristics – is not allowed anyway.
Tahir Della from the Black People Initiative in Germany stressed, however, that such controls in Germany are “not a diminishing problem, not an isolated case”. Corresponding legal proceedings also showed this. Of the SPD deputy Karama Diaby described on Twitter how he experienced racial profiling in Germany:
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BDK board member Fiedler also finds the reasoning of the Interior Ministry “not really logical” and “embarrassing”. In the WDR, he said that the study originally planned was not just about “racial profiling”, but rather about polling attitudes to identify extremism. And “that says something about ‘Racial Profiling'”, says Fiedler. This is not only “not allowed”, but also “unprofessional”.
In fact, a study by the German government in March was suggested in a report by the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance. Federal Minister of Justice Christine Lambrecht (SPD) continues to adhere to the plan: she will “talk to my colleague about it again”, the study is in the interest of everyone who is firmly on the ground of our basic ordersaid Lambrecht.
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Opposition politicians renewed their criticism of Seehofer. The Parliamentary manager of the Greens, Britta Haßelmann, accused Seehofer of acting according to the motto: “My opinion is clear, I don’t need a scientific study.”
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You need a “well-founded factual basis” to discuss, instead of “judging emotionally,” said the Greens domestic politician Irene Mihalic the radio station Bayern 2. FDP Group Vice President Stephan Thomae warned: “Those who deny problems will not solve them.”
It had been in the past few days harsh criticism given to Seehofer’s refusal. The interior minister also received support on Tuesday. So said Union faction vice Thorsten Frei (CDU) understanding in the “Rheinische Post”. He sees the problem somewhere else: “By creating an anti-police climate, increasing violence against police officers and resistance against law enforcement officers is being promoted.”
Jörg Radek, Deputy Chairman of the Police Union (GdP), said it was right that Seehofer should face the officials on this issue. Radek told the dpa: “If this study aims to investigate racism in the police, then I reject it.”
However, Radek is not fundamentally against a study: an investigation to check whether the regulations under which the officials checked “are correct” could be useful, Radek explained. Scientific knowledge of “what it does to colleagues when they have been working in a certain neighborhood for years” could also help to prevent racial thought patterns from developing among individual officials.
It is the second time within a few days that Seehofer has been criticized in a police debate. Most recently, he had threatened a journalist with a criminal complaint for a police column, after days of opposition but apart from that.
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