Almost 100 Berlin police officers have attracted attention in recent years because of possible right-wing extremist attitudes. This emerges from a response from the Senate to a request from the AfD. 94 police officers and 4 former police officers are known “who are suspected of having a right-wing extremist attitude”. All cases are subject to criminal investigations or corresponding examinations.
In addition, twelve police officers and one former employee are under the same suspicion. Another employee is suspected of having left-wing extremist attitudes, three employees are suspected of having Islamist attitudes. In these cases, too, investigations are carried out. Police officers are security guards in front of ministries and embassies.
The magnitude of the numbers is not new. It is known that 74 disciplinary proceedings were initiated against Berlin police officers on suspicion of right-wing extremist statements. 22 of these were concluded: In ten cases, civil servants were dismissed on revocation or on probation. In two cases there were reprimands, in two others fines. Eight cases were dropped. It was almost always about right-wing extremist or racist statements or pictures in chat groups or about participation in politically problematic events.
Around 26,000 people work for the Berlin police, almost 19,000 of them are police officers. In 2020, the Senate and the police presented a concept for combating extremist tendencies. Part of this is the possibility of anonymous tips, queries to the Office for the Protection of the Constitution and surveys of applicants. In 2021, the police set up an internal investigation group “Central” to investigate violations.
Almost no cases were reported from other parts of the public service in Berlin, only in the Senate Department for Education there were five suspected cases of employees with possible right-wing extremist attitudes. A “widespread problem” with corresponding efforts “could not be determined”, as it was said.
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