Privacy: How Policemen Spy Their Environment

German police are abusing official databases more frequently than previously known for private purposes. A survey of the SPIEGEL under the data protection officers of the federation and the countries as well as in the Ministries of Interior revealed: From the beginning of 2018 ran at least 158 ​​proceedings against officials, because they are said to have illegally sneaked into service computers. In at least 52 cases, the authorities imposed fines.

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"The systems are abused again and again to spy on neighbors, family members or colleagues," says Berlin data protection officer Maja Smoltczyk. Since May 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation has been in force in Germany. In the meantime, it is no longer the police authorities or the superior ministries of the interior who are responsible for the prosecution of such violations in the federal government and in eight countries, but rather the data protection officers. Since then, the cases become more public.

Thus, a serious violation of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern was also known: In Schwerin noticed an official who "made sexual advances" after a sexual offense of the 13-year-old companion of a witness, as the report of the Data Protection Commissioner.

The official was supposed to pay 1,500 euros, but the Schwerin district court overturned the fine for a formal reason. The official was also subject to disciplinary proceedings, which ended with a fine of 300 euros. The police officer was transferred according to the Ministry of Interior and entrusted with other tasks.

This topic comes from the new SPIEGEL magazine - available at the kiosk from Saturday morning and every Friday at SPIEGEL + and in the digital magazine edition.

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