Enlarge image
Police officers in Berlin (archive photo)
Photo: Bernd von Jutrczenka / dpa
The Berlin police are investigating five of their own officials: They are said to have made racist and inhumane statements.
Police employees reported the five colleagues according to a press release.
The Central Group, specially set up by the police for such cases, is conducting the investigation.
The statements, which are said to have been made by two police officers during patrols in May, could not be noticed by outsiders or those affected, it was said.
However, that does not change the fact that they are in absolute contradiction to the values and self-image of police officers.
A suspect is accused of using symbols of unconstitutional organizations.
Another is suspected of racial profiling, i.e. racially motivated police controls.
Investigations have already started and the first legal measures have been taken.
A person may no longer carry out their official business.
In Freiburg, too, the police took action against several officials on a similar suspicion. Here the police confiscated the smartphones of three officers after there was evidence of chat messages with racist content. The presidium announced that disciplinary proceedings had also been initiated against the police officers. The reference to "isolated xenophobic and discriminatory content" in a chat group in 2017 and 2018 therefore came from within our own ranks. "Now we're going to check if there's anything to it," said a police spokesman. The evaluation of the devices by the State Criminal Police Office could "take a few days".
So far, the case has not been criminally relevant, the public prosecutor's office in Freiburg has closed its investigations in this regard.
The disciplinary proceedings against the officials continue to run independently of this for the time being.
If the suspicion is confirmed, "zero tolerance," said the police spokesman in relation to possible disciplinary measures.
"Then everything is conceivable."
kha / dpa
