When officers from the 1st police station in Frankfurt report on how they have experienced the past four weeks, terms such as “sad”, “angry” and “stunned” are used. This is how the Hessian Interior Minister Roman Poseck (CDU) describes it after meeting with officials from the district on Monday. They had to deal with the fact that some of their colleagues were said to have physically abused people in custody. That others noticed and apparently looked the other way – only to then falsify reports to justify the misconduct.
The first district on the Frankfurter Zeil is therefore once again criticized. Years ago it was a right-wing extremist chat group that brought the department into disrepute, now it is the allegations of alleged police violence. Only one question remained unanswered on Monday: To what extent do those officials who were not guilty of anything ask themselves how the misconduct in the office could remain undetected for so long? Could you have guessed anything? Was something overlooked? It is said that there is no answer to this yet.
In the words of Roman Poseck, it is now time to “look forward”. The allegations made against 17 officers in a service group are serious. Now they want to concentrate on the officials who went about their work honestly “and are now suffering from the allegations.” These officials now need to be strengthened, including through appreciation, says Poseck. “It is important that the police can continue to enforce their monopoly on the use of force in this difficult district.”
Raid squad blocked on Zeil
Frankfurt police chief Stefan Müller described how stressful the service on the Zeil with the neighboring Aller Heiligenviertel is. Officials reported that they could hardly go out on weekend nights without there being “a reaction” from people who were at the crime scene at the time. Sometimes the patrol car is hit with the palm of one’s hand, other times officers are insulted while on duty. The highlight was when a raiding party on the Zeil was unable to continue because people were blocking their way. “The officers had to stop and get out and push people aside,” says Müller.
In general, the officials had to deal with “a lot of hostility and a high level of disrespect.” The 1st district has already been taken into account separately in the past, for example with a special rotation procedure so that the officers never stay at the department for longer than five years. The aim was to prevent the load from having too much of an impact on the service. But apparently that didn’t work for all officials, as Müller says. He attributes the fact that a service group in the department exhibited such misconduct to “the brutalization of individuals” and group dynamics. And finally, superiors in the service group “did not take any action”.
Like Poseck, Müller also says that the misconduct that the officers are accused of cannot be justified by anything. “A red line has been crossed,” says Müller. It will stay that way. But one cannot avoid including the environment in which the officers worked in the analysis when it comes to how such violent excesses can be prevented in the future. Because apparently, this conclusion was reached, there was a stress problem among the officials. The number of arrests alone speaks for this: 2,500 in one year.
Special unit for the Zeil
According to Poseck, the plan is to employ fewer young and more experienced officers at the station in the future. In addition, officials will change offices after four years in the future and they would be exempt from so-called small assignments. On the weekends, the police officers are supported by external forces in a specially set up “BAO Zeil”. Promotions should be possible more quickly in the 1st district in the future, which should create incentives to work there. In addition, the entrance to the station will be rebuilt. The officers are offered increased supervision in order to be able to follow up on stressful missions. There will also be a new reporting point for anonymous tips should misconduct occur again.
The new structures will be implemented by Stefan Müller, the new head of the department, who coincidentally has the same name as the police chief. So far he has been in charge of the training and further education of the Hessian police. He says he found a department where “highly motivated officers work,” but the allegations have left the atmosphere “emotionally strained.” He is now continuing to focus on discussions and the reorganization of the affected service group. This is a start.
