Colleagues reported extremist comments from the man: In Paderborn a police officer has been suspended from duty because he is suspected of sympathizing with the ideology of the so-called Reich citizens. The 45-year-old will be subject to disciplinary proceedings, the police said. He is no longer allowed to enter the police station.
Members of the patrolling officers had contacted their superiors at the end of October. The official was initially transferred to an office without citizen contact. He had to give up his firearm.
After a statement of the state protection then followed on Wednesday the suspension. There were no complaints from the public or indications of a criminal offense.
"Extremist ideologies have no place in the police"
"Any form of extremist ideologies in the ranks of the police have no place," said District Manfred Müller. "Accordingly, we had to act quickly and take disciplinary action."
Overall, according to a media report in North Rhine-Westphalia currently five police officers suspected of belonging to the Reich citizenship scene. Disciplinary proceedings were filed against them, reported the "Westfalen-Blatt", citing a spokeswoman for the North Rhine-Westphalian Interior Ministry. The protection of the constitution therefore counts in the federal state to 3,200 people of the imperial citizen scene. About a hundred of them also frequented the right-wing extremist scene. Regional priorities are in the region Ostwestfalen-Lippe, in the district of Soest, in the Hochsauerlandkreis and in the metropolitan area of Cologne.
So-called Reich citizens do not recognize the Federal Republic as a state. They reject the legitimacy of the Basic Law, authorities and courts and accept no official decisions. Nationwide, according to the report on the protection of the constitution, there were about 19,000 "Reich citizens" last year, of which 950 were right-wing extremists.