By Gunnar Schupelius
The interior senator demands longer police custody for unruly climate stickers. However, the corresponding law was only softened by Red-Green-Red last year. Gunnar Schupelius believes that the rule of law was deliberately deprived of the means to enforce the law.
Interior Senator Iris Spranger (SPD) has demanded that climate extremists who are constantly stuck on the streets should be taken into police custody for some time. This is the only way to prevent them from repeatedly disrupting or paralyzing public life.
Calls for the law to be tightened: Interior Senator Iris Spranger (SPD) Photo: DAVIDS/Sven Darmer
Specifically, Spranger proposed an amendment to the relevant law. The “General Law for the Protection of Public Safety and Order in Berlin (ASOG)” provides for the deprivation of liberty “in order to prevent the imminent commission or continuation of an administrative offense of considerable importance for the general public or a criminal offense” (§ 30, paragraph 2 ). At the request of the police, the judge can then order custody.
In Berlin, according to the local ASOG, this detention may last a maximum of 48 hours. Interior Senator Spranger wants to extend this period to 96 hours (four days). In other federal states, detention may last longer, in Bavaria even up to a maximum of 30 days.
The interior senator receives support from the police unions, which go even further: “Bavarian conditions do not have to prevail in Berlin, but four or five days would noticeably expand the preventive framework for action,” says the police union (GdP).
And the German Police Union (DPolG) even demands that “the maximum period of detention be extended to up to 14 days”.
Spranger is factually right and the security authorities are on their side. But that is of no use to her, because she has neither the Greens nor the Left, who are involved in the government, behind her.
Both are working in the opposite direction: It was not until 2021 that the Greens and Leftists changed the ASOG in such a way that detention was reduced to 48 hours. Previously, police custody was allowed for up to 96 hours, which is exactly what Ms. Spranger is now demanding again. The SPD voted with the Greens and Left for the shortening.
So Spranger is calling for the tightening of a law that her party itself only softened not too long ago.
What to make of it? Does the SPD now stand for security and order and behind its interior senator or behind the Greens and the Left?
These parties consider an extension of detention to be “wrong”. That is not correct, on the contrary: detention serves to enforce the law, which the state is obliged to do by law.
He must ensure that criminal offenses are prevented, that people who are planning a criminal offense or continue to commit an administrative offense are stopped. The police will then issue a referral or an entry ban. If this is not followed, only detention can help.
This crackdown is made more difficult by the political side. The rule of law is deliberately deprived of the means to enforce the law. Who wants that?
Is Gunnar Schupelius right? Call: 030/2591 73153 or email: [email protected]