The past year was challenging for Germany's police. GdP leader Jochen Kopelke talks about the pressure on civil servants – and brings artificial intelligence into play.
Berlin – The last year had it all: mafia business in Erfurt, mass brawls in the Ruhr area, raids against right-wing extremist Reich citizens in Bavaria and most recently an alarm in Cologne due to suspected terrorism. Is the security situation more tense than usual, or is that just a feeling? And what goes through police officers' minds when they are attacked en masse with rockets on New Year's Eve? Jochen Kopelke, federal head of the police union (GdP), talks about this in an interview IPPEN.MEDIA.
Mr. Kopelke, would you advise a young person today to start police training?
Yes, because the police profession, as I experience it, is one of the greatest professions. You deal with a lot of people in different life situations. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad, but it's always exciting and you have lots of prospects for a long career.
Many police officers experienced rather bad situations on New Year's Eve when rockets were thrown at them and rescue workers. Who are the perpetrators?
The perpetrators are predominantly young adolescent men who attack people from a distance with objects in groups. This suggests that they are trying to be perceived as strong in a group. At the same time, they seek protection from detection at a distance because they know that what they are doing is wrong. There is a lot of calculation behind it, these are not affective acts.
GdP leader Jochen Kopelke on New Year's Eve riots: “There's a calculation behind it”
Is this a new phenomenon?
There were also riotous youth gangs in the 70s and 80s. But this type of group dynamic is certainly new.
Where does that come from in your view?
There are certainly many reasons. But I can imagine that this is also related to the Corona phase. After a long period of isolation, people want to work more in like-minded groups again. And this also affects potentially violent young people.
The fact that many of these groups have a migration background is a recurring theme in public discussion. Does it matter?
We know that people who committed crimes together on New Year's Eve often also have a migration history. But the motives for the crime do not lie in another ethnic group or another nationality. Rather, it has to do with hotspots within cities where there is a multicultural society. We now also have to take a scientific look at how our districts are structured. One thing we have learned is that high-rise developments with people from 50 or 60 nations in a small space are certainly not successful models.
“It’s about specific social structural problems, not about nationalities”
Some politicians have recently called for faster deportations.
This is not a productive discussion. These are mostly people who have German citizenship, there is nothing about deportation. Many people open drawers and say: It has a different main color, so it behaves in a certain pattern. And that is nonsense. It's about specific social structural problems, not about nationalities.
Some experts say: In the future, for better or worse, more police presence will be necessary on New Year's Eve every year. Do you believe that too?
As a police union, we reject this. This is not affordable and is carried out on the backs of the police officers. What is much more important is that we follow the perpetrators we have arrested much more closely. We now know their life careers, how they live and where the problems are. And anyone who was a perpetrator now and perhaps last year should not act like that for the third New Year's Eve in a row. Quick judgments must be made and the young people must be closely supervised by social workers.
New Year's Eve rocket explodes and police helmet: “That does something to you”
What does that do psychologically to police officers who are targeted with firecrackers or spat on during an arrest?
Violence changes people. Both when you practice it and when you experience it. The same goes for police officers. If a New Year's Eve rocket explodes under your helmet, it will do something to you. We police officers function in the situation itself; we are trained to do that. What matters are the moments when the service comes to an end. If the missions and experiences are not followed up properly, post-traumatic stress disorders are the result. Most state police have offers of assistance in this regard. But we need to be able to get professional help faster.
There have recently been several investigations, including in North Rhine-Westphalia, but also in Frankfurt, against police officers because of right-wing extremist chats. Do you think that some officers can slip into such extremes out of frustration because of a lack of support?
I see no structural problem with right-wing extremism in the state police and federal authorities. But I do believe that changing everyday working life can also change some police officers. In fact, in this job you need a sense of group, otherwise you won't be able to survive the dangers and stress. Sometimes extremes can emerge in groups. Most police officers, especially young ones, do not accept such sayings and images in chat groups. That's why there are rightly legal protection options for officials who report this. There is increasing transparency on the topic and that is a good thing.
Right-wing extremism in the polic
e: “You can’t become a member if you belong to the AfD”
What does this transparency look like?
Extremists do not belong in security authorities, that is a clear position of the GdP. You cannot be a member of the GdP if you belong to the AfD. We don't need anyone in our ranks who engages in incitement and shares disgusting images in WhatsApp groups.
Last year there were Reichsbürger raids, mass brawls and terror alarms. Is the security situation in Germany more tense than usual?
Yes, the security situation is more tense than it was five years ago. The world conflicts have a direct impact on our lives in Germany. The Eritrean conflicts were fought on the streets of Giessen and Stuttgart. And since Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, we have been observing cyber attacks on critical infrastructure. For the first time, we have massive border controls again, even though the Schengen area should be free of borders. Everyone has recognized that massive investments must be made in the Bundeswehr. But the inner workings of the Federal Republic are protected by the police, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the intelligence services. There is no investment there. That is why we have called for a special fund for investments in internal security. Some federal states invest heavily in police, others don't. And federalism will not be able to sustain this imbalance for long.
So does the police need more staff?
Yes, and above all modern technology. It takes years for a person to evaluate 20 terabytes of video data from crimes. That's why we want to use AI for this, but we're still not allowed to. Although the Federal Constitutional Court has clearly stated that it should be allowed. But nothing comes of this from politics. This is no longer appropriate in the 21st century. We still write everything down in our little book and then copy it into a computer. And then we send it to colleagues in another police department, who print it out and type it up again. This is not acceptable.
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