Germany: New office targets police racism and discrimination

In March, the German parliament elected former policeman Uli Grötsch to the newly created position of federal commissioner for the police. This meant the Social Democrat (SPD) politician also had to resign his seat as a member of the German Bundestag, as the new position is designed to be independent.

Grötsch, who served as a police officer for 21 years, is now the contact person for complaints about instances of discrimination in the federal police. Though he can point out demonstrable misconduct, any decision about punishment, up to and including dismissal, would have to be made by the employer or the courts.

At a press conference in Berlin organized by the media service Mediendienst Integration, Grötsch expressed his astonishment at the number of complaints he has received in his first three weeks. There have been three to four submissions a day, with now over 70 in total. Around 30% came from the police, with the rest coming from the general public.

Looking for a diverse team

Grötsch's tenure is to last five years. During this time, he said, there is one thing he wants to do above all else: build trust. To do that, Grötsch said he will need a team that is as diverse as possible. "I need someone with black skin, someone with an Arab background, and, ideally, an LGBTQI person," he said.

Grötsch wants to build a team with those "who have experienced discrimination or belong to a group that is often discriminated against." However, he is still a long way from achieving that goal: 10 out of 18 posts have been filled — so far not one by an LGBTQI person.

"I would like to choose the five that I think are best for the job," Grötsch stressed, though of course the candidates must also conform legal requirements. They must, for example, come from within the police force.

Grötsch plans to meet soon with anti-racism expert Abdou Rahime Diallo, director and spokesperson of Diaspora Policy Interaction (DPI). As a student in 1998, Diallo experienced firsthand what racism can feel like. He was running through Düsseldorf's main train station and suddenly found himself lying on the ground.

"Three police officers were on top of me, I couldn't breathe, I was in endless pain — and most of all, I was humiliated and traumatized," said Diallo of his experience. "And the reason was: I'm Black."

When the police officers realized that he was German, they pushed him away and told him to move on. "I tried to protest, but it didn't help," said Diallo. He was young at the time and in a state of shock. Who could Diallo have turned to?

Today, he said, there are more places that offer help. "Today, I would have handled it very differently — definitely!"

'It's a big challenge for us to reach out to people'

But a look at the map of Germany also shows how much catching up is still necessary. Apart from the new federal commissioner, only eight of Germany's 16 states have comparable offices, though, as Mediendienst Integration established, they all have very different levels of expertise.

Only Rhineland-Palatinate and Schleswig-Holstein allow the commissioner unrestricted access to police and prosecutors' files. Berlin is the only state where the commissioner for the police can conduct their own investigations. Offering information on complaints against the police in languages other than German remains an exception, but is planned in some states.

Studies on racism in the police now exist at both federal and state levels. According to Hartmut Aden, political scientist at the Berlin School of Economics and Law, a lot has happened in this field since 2009 when he started researching discrimination.

"Back then, it was still very taboo in police academies to even talk about topics like police and racism," said Aden. Today, he has found that police cadets have become much more critical, not least because the police force has become much more diverse.

Experts agree it's difficult to assess how widespread racism and other forms of discrimination actually are in the police force. Sermin Riedel, commissioner for the police in the state of Bremen since 2022, has one main explanation for this: those affected usually find it very difficult to talk about it.

"It's a big challenge for us to reach out to people, to get them to tell their story," she said. Riedel has found that despite all efforts to raise awareness, talking about racism is still often met with defensiveness in the police.

That is why she urges people to understand that racism is not only synonymous with right-wing extremist networks — it can occur whenever unintentional patterns of action or thought lead to police actions that have racist implications.

This could include random identity checks based on skin color or other external characteristics, known as racial profiling. Aden describes such policing as a "classic" example of racism. Such checks are fertile ground for "very subjective perceptions, including prejudice," he said. Those who have faced such abuse can contact the commissioner of their state and now also at the federal level.

This article was originally written in German.

While you're here: Every Tuesday, DW editors round up what is happening in German politics and society. You can sign up here for the weekly email newsletter Berlin Briefing.