German Police Controls and Structural Racism

Abstract

Since 15 March 2024, Germany has an ombudsperson for its federal police forces. The German Bundestag passed a law creating the Polizeibeauftragte des Bundes (federal police commissioner). The former MP and police officer Uli Grötsch was appointed to be the first to take office. While this is a first for the federal level the idea itself is far from new. Similar ombudspersons already exist on the state level, the Länder (see here). The federal institutions are only catching up. However, it is still an opportunity to look at this way of containing police activities. According to section 1 Nr. 1 PolBeauftrG the new Polizeibeauftragter des Bundes is responsible for the Bundespolizei (federal police), the Bundeskriminalamt (federal criminal police office) and the Polizei beim Deutschen Bundestag (parliamentary Police at the Bundestag). The Bundespolizei is the police of interest for this article. Its main tasks are everything in the context of border control. Section 1 Nr. 1 PolBeauftrG explains further that one of the tasks is the analysis of structural issues within these institutions. In addition, section 1 Nr. 2 PolBeauftrG refers explicitly to Article 3 Grundgesetz which includes the constitutional protection against racial discrimination. Accordingly, one of those issues should be the question of structural racism within the Bundespolizei. This contribution will firstly outline the problematic structure of the legal bases for police operations such as stops. This legal structure must be put into its practical context. Hence in a second step the application of those legal bases will be analysed. Lastly the combination of legal basis and application can offer the possibility of a sound critique the Polizeibeauftragte des Bundes Uli Grötsch should consider.