What is already common practice in some federal states should apply nationwide in the future: federal police officers should be given a label so that they can be identified in the event of possible misconduct. In her new bill, Interior Minister Faeser also wants to give the police more powers.
According to a report by “Spiegel”, the federal government is planning to introduce compulsory identification for federal police officers. A draft law from Nancy Faeser’s Ministry of the Interior therefore provides that law enforcement officers in operational units should wear a “tactical label” by which they can be subsequently identified. This should make it easier for police officers to investigate possible criminal offenses or breaches of duty.
Some federal states already have a labeling requirement, including Brandenburg, Hesse, Bremen and Thuringia. In North Rhine-Westphalia, the then black and yellow state government abolished it again in 2017 with the votes of the AfD. In Baden-Württemberg, at the urging of the Greens, anonymous labeling was agreed in the coalition agreement. Opposition comes from the police unions, who see the relevant bill as a “vote of no confidence” in the police.
As the “Spiegel” further reports, the new Federal Police Act stipulates that new police officers to be hired in the future will be subjected to a security check by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. This is to prevent extremists from infiltrating the federal police.
The two projects are part of a larger reform. The law was last renewed in 1994. According to “Spiegel”, the current draft from Faeser’s ministry also includes a number of new powers to avert danger. For example, the federal police should be given the opportunity to preventively monitor telephones in certain cases or to determine the location of cell phones. This should make it possible to clarify cross-border travel routes by extremists, and an operation against people smugglers is also conceivable. It should also be regulated when the federal police can use technical means to stop drones that are circling in the air near airports. The bill does not include the controversial use of so-called state trojans, which could give investigators access to chats on mobile phones.
