The criticism of the police law in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania was great from the start, data protectionists feared violations of fundamental rights. Now the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe is declaring that the legislature must make improvements.

The new police law in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, which was passed in 2020, is partially unconstitutional. According to the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe, several regulations on secret surveillance measures by the police are not precise enough and do not meet the requirements of proportionality. The legislature must now improve.

The legal reform was controversial from the start, data protectionists feared violations of fundamental rights. The constitutional complaint turned against regulations that are intended to prevent dangers – such as secret image or sound recordings, online searches, the surveillance of telecommunications or the use of undercover investigators.

The court now complained that the danger to be averted was not defined specifically enough in the regulations. Some of the planned measures could well be justified, it explained. In their current form, however, they are partly incompatible with the Basic Law. For example, this stipulates strict requirements for the monitoring of apartments. Most of the objected regulations in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania remain in force for the time being with restrictions. However, they must be revised by the end of the year.

Five people who currently live in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania or have close contacts there had turned to the Federal Constitutional Court. Among them were a lawyer, a journalist, a climate activist and two football fans. Her constitutional complaint was supported by the “So-Called Security” alliance and the Society for Freedom Rights (GFF).

After the Karlsruhe decision, their process coordinator David Werdermann spoke of a “success for civil liberties” that would “have an impact beyond Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania”. The GFF supports several similar constitutional complaints in different federal states.

One of them against the police law in Baden-Württemberg was rejected as inadmissible in 2021. The main focus was on the use of so-called state trojans, surveillance software on suspects’ digital devices, using IT security gaps.

Although the constitutional complaint was unsuccessful at the time, the judges in Karlsruhe pointed out that there is also a state duty to protect in the event of such security gaps.