German Police Racism Study

The Hessian police chief Ullmann took office after his predecessor had to resign due to mistakes in dealing with the threatened affair and the right-wing network NSU 2.0.

After 100 days, he commented today that he and the Office for the Protection of the Constitution do not see a proper network in his police department either. Some of the violations are "stupidities" and other suspected cases would be investigated. The investigation is difficult, however.

A petition that "calls for a study on "Racial Profiling" to be carried out by federal and state police authorities" has reached the quorum of 50.000 needed signatures on the official petition platform of the German state. The threshold has been met five days before the official deadline on the 20.08.2020. Each public petition has four weeks from the moment it is published online to gather the required amount of signatures.

The Petitions Committee will now, as the quorum has been met, invite the petitioner to a public hearing about the petition to further present their concern directly to the members of the Committee.

Federal Minister of the Interior, Building and Community Horst Seehofer has previously blocked a study about racial profiling and racism inside the German police.

According to information from SPIEGEL, Horst Seehofer maintains his blockade against an independent racism study within the police. He sees no structural racism problems that should be examined. The German Police University had submitted a project application to the Interior Ministry to investigate "right-wing extremist attitudes and actions", but the three-year project is now on hold.

Not only Seehofer, but the CSU is also opposed to a study recommended by the EU.

Lower Saxony's Minister of the Interior Pistorius now wants to commission a study in cooperation with other federal states.