Wiesbaden (dpa / lhe) – Hessen is still looking for a police officer. According to the Hessian state parliament, the position is still vacant. In 2020, the state parliament decided that the position of Ombudsman and Police Commissioner should be created. He should mediate as an independent authority in the event of conflict between citizens and the police and also serve as a confidant for internal police disputes. The position should actually be filled for the first time in early 2022. But the designated candidate, criminologist Rafael Behr, withdrew last October for health reasons.
In addition, according to research by the German Press Agency, there are 16 state representatives in Hesse who are appointed by the cabinet and 2 who are elected by the state parliament. There have also been three regional officers since 2018. You were recently the subject of a Minor Query. The response from Environment Minister Priska Hinz (Greens) shows that the three had a total of almost 5,400 “contacts” with politicians, associations, institutions and citizens in 2021. Hinz sees her as a “carer”. Above all, they provide information about funding programmes, competitions and appeals with which the municipalities can get money.
The Hesse taxpayers’ association does not want to make a “general judgment” about the officers: You have to look at each individual case in detail, says the chairman of the taxpayers’ association, Joachim Papendick, of the German Press Agency.
