By Gunnar Schupelius
The planned new rules for the federal police are apparently being made by politicians who have no idea about business, says Gunnar Schupelius.
The federal government is planning new rules for the police service. SPD, Greens and FDP want to dictate to federal police officers that in future they must offer a receipt after each identity check. This is to document and justify the inspection.
Firstly, the police officers must “instruct” the controlled person about the right to the receipt, and secondly, “issue a certificate of the measure and its reason immediately upon request”.
This regulation applies to the controls of the federal police at the external borders and on the train. Officials there are obliged to locate illegal immigrants, detain them and bring them to a collective accommodation for asylum seekers.
Without any concrete suspicion, they check people whom they believe have crossed the border illegally. Since most asylum seekers come from the Middle East and North Africa, the police mainly check people of these origins.
This selection is condemned by the Greens as “racist”, as “racial profiling”, as selection based on the color of the skin. The Greens therefore wanted to completely ban the controls without concrete suspicion, but failed because of the SPD. As a compromise, the receipt came out. It is intended to protect citizens from unjustified controls.
In addition, the rules for control have been tightened. The draft law states that, in general, nobody should be checked “on the basis of group-related characteristics”. Controls would only be permitted if there were current findings that illegal entries were to be expected in a certain border region.
All of this may be an understandable idea in terms of civil rights. That’s how the Greens and FDP present it. But have you ever thought of the police officers? Do you know what the job at the borders and on the trains is like?
In 2022, the federal police apprehended more than 92,000 illegal migrants. They don’t always respond in a friendly manner, and conflicts arise. And in the future, the officials should always offer a receipt and issue it if necessary, if possible on paper and with a pen? This is what politicians think up who have no idea about business.
The Greens and the FDP finally have to explain why they constantly accuse the officials of their checks being racially motivated. This is an outrageous accusation, in fact slanderous.
If a policeman checks people in the border area who look like they come from Syria, it’s not because he has prejudices against Syrians. He does it because he thinks there are a particularly large number of people without a residence permit in a group of people that he selects visually.
The harshness of everyday police work is completely misjudged. Continuous operations, overtime, staff shortages: the police must not be burdened with new bureaucracy. This bill belongs in the shredder.
Is Gunnar Schupelius right? Call: 030/2591 73153 or email: [email protected]
Read all of Gunnar Schupelius’ columns here