By Axel Lier
Because he was streaming on TikTok with clan boss Arafat Abou-Chaker, the authorities banned a patrolman from two of his social media accounts. The Section 31 officer sued, but the administrative court now agreed with his superiors.
It was a one-off event: on February 10 last year, the authorities’ management met in a room on Platz der Luftbrücke. Among them police chief Barbara Slowik, her deputy, the head of the LKA, head of staff and directorate, the heads of the situation service and the police academy. You watched videos of your employee “Officer Denny” speaking live to Arafat Abou-Chaker on TikTok.
Arafat wondered: “You’re allowed to go live and chat as a policeman?” The police chief in the T-shirt with the inscription “Police” replied: “Yes, I’m not on duty, I’m a private person…”
Both were on first-name terms, talked about investigations, about Bushido and his Amazon documentary. Arafat asked: “Aren’t you going to get in trouble?” The policeman replied: “It’s not forbidden, I’m a normal, private person. (…) You don’t even have a criminal record.“
But apparently the management of the authorities evaluated this conversation very differently. Especially since the officer had already noticed some videos on the authority’s social media team. One of them was about “racial profiling” among whites.
Apparently planned as a gag, the response backfired. The video has been deleted. In a Twitch video, he and a colleague were guests of gangster rapper Fler, a good friend of Arafat.
The result: In June 2022, the authorities banned him from all police-related social media appearances and asked him to delete his posts and profile name.
On the other hand, the police officer defended himself in court – unsuccessfully. In the opinion of the judges, he violated his official duties with this type of sideline activity. The interview with Abou Chaker revealed “an unacceptable close relationship with the clan milieu,” according to the responsible 36th chamber. This gives rise to doubts as to whether the civil servant will in future carry out his duties dutifully and impartially. As a police officer, he is subject to special duties of loyalty to his employer, which contradict private contacts in this scene.
According to the court, an appeal against the decision has already been lodged with the Berlin-Brandenburg Higher Administrative Court. The police did not provide any information as to whether disciplinary action was taken against the officer.
The police union (GdP) welcomes the verdict. Spokesman Benjamin Jendro on the BZ: “This is a landmark judgment that sums up the problem of the private presence of police officers with a business connection on social media.”
According to the trade unionist, if a security agency wants to authentically recruit young people and bring police work closer to home, this should only be done via corporate influencers.
Benjamin Jendro: “It’s good that Berlin’s police have now recognized the dangers and are working on binding and transparent rules and tips, after the topic of InstaCops has long been neglected and it has been accepted that individuals with their social media behavior follow the picture hurt the police and yourself.”