German Police Research Articles

A német rendőrségek irányítási rendszere

Aim: The aim of the publication is to present the management system of the German police forces, the related documents, the organisational structure of the police forces in the country, and to provide data on staffing and operations. Methodology: The elaboration is based on official police bulletins, operational documents, police laws and data available on the websites of the different organisational units. Findings: Germany’s state administration system, different from that of Hungary, requires a different approach, too, regarding the performance of police duties. This is effectively ensured by the methods and organisational solutions presented in this publication. The procedures used in Germany can presumably also be partly applied in Hungary. Value: The reader will be introduced to a system of organisation and operational management, relatively complex compared to that in Hungary, which is adapted to the federal republican character of Germany.

Police leaders as role models in feedback-seeking: how police leaders’ negative feedback-seeking encourages, reinforces, and enables their followers’ negative feedback-seeking

ABSTRACT This paper examines leaders’ role modeling of negative feedback-seeking behavior (NFSB). We hypothesized that leaders who solicit negative feedback from their followers increase followers’ negative feedback-seeking and that this relationship is moderated by leaders’ differentiation in negative feedback-seeking. Leaders engaging in authentic NFSB by not differentiating (i.e., asking all followers equally for feedback) should yield a stronger effect on followers’ NFSB. Data was collected from leaders and followers from two German police departments (N = 130 leader-follower dyads). Results support the hypotheses showing leaders’ role modeling of NFSB. Particularly in the police, errors and mistakes are often concealed or even covered up. Our results show that it is vital for police leaders to actively solicit critical information from all their followers to signal their followers that this behavior is accepted and welcomed. Our findings can be considered when decisions regarding leadership selection, promotion, and development are made.

Deportations of Roma from Hungary and the Mass Killing at Kamianets-Podilskyi in 1941

Abstract At the end of August 1941, the Nazi German Einsatzgruppe, together with German Police Battalion 320 and Ukrainian auxiliaries, killed approximately 23,600 persons (mainly Jews) at Kamianets-Podilskyi. While some researchers assert that Roma were deported from Hungary and Hungarian-occupied Transcarpathia (present-day Ukraine) despite the absence of official reports, other scholars argue that Hungarian leaders may have planned to ethnically “cleanse” the area of Roma, but the plan was never executed, resulting in no deportations or deaths. This article presents new findings that support the former position, and argues that roughly one thousand Roma were expelled from Transcarpathia. New evidence includes a report detailing the ongoing operation to expel Roma, census data indicating a significant reduction in the Roma population near the border, as well as indications that individuals other than Jews were expelled, likely Roma. Only circumstantial evidence—verbal orders to eliminate Roma and reports of Roma killings by the same special commando in different locations—supports the claim that Roma were killed in the August 1941 massacre, though later reports from 1942 explicitly identify Roma victims. After analyzing this new evidence, the author supports the claim that Roma were deported and potentially killed earlier than had previously been known.

Shmal’tsovniki: Bounty Hunters in World War II Galicia, 1941–1944

Abstract Among the most notorious forms of collaboration with the German occupation of District Galicia were the so-called shmal’tsovniki (szmalcownicy) or marodëry (profiteers), bounty hunters who betrayed Jews to the German police for cash rewards, apartments, food, and a host of other incentives. In this study of post-Soviet Russian, Ukrainian, German, Israeli, and Polish sources, the author has traced the nefarious roles these local collaborators played in the Holocaust. He has endeavored to outline the political economy of genocide in Galicia, tracing the transformation of relations among neighbors into a predatory hunt for Jewish men, women, and children who had been driven into hiding to escape persecution and genocide. Archival documents and eyewitness testimonies reveal that bounty hunters preyed not just on Jews, but also on so-called Righteous Gentiles, typically well-meaning Poles or Ukrainians whose acts of kindness were sometimes turned against them in the morally inverted world of the German occupation. In this way, the German occupation authorities generated a mass culture of fear and suspicion that facilitated the rounding up and liquidation of remaining Jews.

Training German police officers to tackle racial discrimination: Professional virtues between compliance with legal norms and dialogue with affected groups

Abstract Educational formats that seek to raise police officers’ awareness about racial discrimination often focus on formal violations of the principle of non-discrimination or canons of values. First, based on a critical discussion of positions on discrimination in policing and proposals for police training in Germany this paper argues based on human rights for a broader understanding of the challenge to tackle racial discrimination in policing. In reference to neo-Aristotelian virtue ethics, competencies for proactive encounters with affected groups will thereby be explored. Second, it outlines a framework for educational formats on this issue that address police officers as whole persons, who should, in the context of their professional practice, develop the virtue to understand the perspectives of and to build relationships of care with marginalized individuals. An example of a tested format that integrates perspectives from civil society will be presented.

International Law Enforcement Observer XII

Aim: Issue XII of the Observer covers topics that could have a significant impact on both public safety strategy and the future development of criminal justice policy. There is no doubt that the strengthening of constitutional values and the need to make the functioning of state power more effective are new challenges for law enforcement. The following reviews report on research from abroad that can serve the development of policing, law enforcement and criminal justice.Methodology: In addition to the traditional jurisprudential methodology, the literature increasingly draws on political science disciplines with a global perspective. A good example is Tamás Suszter’s paper, which gives us a picture of how the situation of NGOs in some countries has been assessed in recent times. Róbert Berei also reports on ground-breaking research in his report on the organisational culture of the Metropolitan Police Service in London in 2023. BernadettBacsó’s analysis is not far behind, confronting the reader with the lessons of the so-called German police family model. Typical criminological reactions are highlighted by Barbara Mágó when she notes that ‘the majority of narratives on human trafficking focus on criminals exploiting vulnerable victims’.Findings: One of the findings of the study analysing the situation of NGOs is that, ‘It is important to note, however, that although the laws against NGOs do not appear to be a cause of wider human rights repression in the period under review, this does not mean that they do not have a deterrent effect on the functioning of NGOs.’ A new feature in the criminological analysis of trafficking is the analysis from the perspectives of consent, coercion and fraud, which ‘... provides a somewhat more nuanced view of the rigid legal definition, and empirical studies present a less hostile picture of trafficking. The approach of the study can thus be considered as a niche one.’ Róbert Bogotyán cites a US example from the field of penitentiary law when he states, ‘The late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries saw a dramatic jump in parole revocations: both new offenses and parole violations were now sufficient to contribute to the increase in American incarceration.’Value: Despite the diversity of the reviews in the fields of constitutionalism, public security, law enforcement, criminal justice and prison culture, they are united in their defence of human values. From civilian control to the reintegration of those serving their sentences, the common theme is the effective and humane service of public order and public safety.

Naming the city: on the governing forces of narratives in the formation of security dispositifs

ABSTRACT Narratives, it is often said, help us make sense of the world. They structure reality and reduce complexity. Yet narratives, we argue, are also visionary. They open up worlds, they allow us to imagine alternative realities and render a matter urgent. In our study of counterterrorism exercises for the German police we examine the ‘governing forces’ of narratives: Narratives help to connect the dots and create a sense of how new forms of terrorism have entered urban life, thus making new forms of security responses seem indispensable. They also help bring the police trainees close to the realness of a threat as well as of the training situation. ‘Naming the city’ where terror attacks have happened works like a vehicle that transports the experience. Bringing approaches of narrative criminology into dialogue with studies of governmentality allows us to capture the forms of subjectivity that the trainings produce. Rather than a top-down endeavour of the state, security is better understood in how it is put into practice – and how the unforeseeable is meant to be embodied.

The leading personnel of the German Police apparatus in Kyiv, 1941–1943

On September 29–30, 1941, the mass shooting of the predominantly Jews in Babyn Yar was carried out by execution teams consisting of members of Sonderkommando 4a and the 45th (reserve) and 303rd police battalions assigned to help. Members of Ukrainian police were engaged in sorting the belongings of the dead and other auxiliary functions. As a result, up to 34,000 Jews were killed in two days. Historians have already established the biographies of the main perpetrators involved in these shootings. However, the killings did not end there. Jews, POW’s, communists, members of the Soviet and OUN underground, as well as ordinary citizens were executed throughout the entire German occupation of Kyiv. The main perpetrators of mass violence belonged to the SS und Polizei apparatus. Nevertheless, the issue of responsible institutions and their personnel remains unsolved. That is why the author of the article aims to highlight the personnel of two main German institutions — the Ordnungspolizei, and Sicherheitspolizei, and SD.

The Role of the German Police in Maintaining Internal Security from the Defeat of Germany in World War I until the Fall of the Weimer Republic from the Perspective of German Researchers – An Analytical Study

This study examines the burden that Germany’s defeat in World War I had on the German police in two respects: first the police were directly affected by the Treaty of Versailles and second, the police suffered – indirectly – from the pressure of increased resistance to the peace treaty and they had to constantly suppress internal disturbances. Although this study did not describe in detail the very long and complex process of reorganizing the police force, it does show that the police force did not have enough time to build a tightly integrated police force, due to repeated reorganizations within short time frames. The German police apparatus failed not only as a guardian of internal order, but also failed to protect its interests as an institution. The most important studies of German researchers dealt with the construction of the German police force and the problems it faced in different aspects and periods of time, and did not address this subject in an integrated manner for the period between 1918 and 1933, and the opinions of German researchers varied in explaining many of the attitudes and events suffered by the German police in that period. The study relies on a historical analytical approach based on the investigating information from its primary sources, and analysing its content and classifying in relation to the subject matter of the study.

Improving Violent Extremism Risk Communication among German Police Agencies: A Survey of Federal and State Threat Managers

Improving Violent Extremism Risk Communication among German Police Agencies: A Survey of Federal and State Threat Managers

ALBANCI LESKOVAČKOG OKRUGA U NEMAČKOJ POLICIJI PORETKA (1943–1944)

Within the wide array of German police structures in occupied Serbia during World War II, one branch belongs to the Albanian collaborators from the Jablanica county of the Leskovac district. They were members of the German Order Police, more precisely the HIPO, which were at the disposal of her commander in Serbia, Andreas May. Militiamen, on a voluntary basis, joined the HIPO in the summer of 1943, and most remained in it until the autumn of the following year. These young men, mostly poor farmers of several villages in Jablanica, belonged to the 9th battalion of HIPO, that is, to the 3rd battalion of the 1st police volunteer regiment. Motives for joining can be sought in a wide spectrum, from the need for better armament and professional military command (for struggle against partisans and cetniks), through monetary earnings, to taking care of the family through social and health care provided by the Germans. Among them there were many married people, but, due to their youth, few children. At the same time, the recruits were mostly literate and were awarded with ranks. Their historical story was covered by a veil of oblivion for a long time, so this research can be seen, among other things, as a call for further illumination of the fate of Albanian members of the BdO forces from Jablanica region.

Verwendung von forensischer Zahnmedizin zur Identitätsfeststellung. Eine Befragung auf Ebene der Länderpolizei

ZusammenfassungHintergrundIn Deutschland liegt die Identifizierung unbekannter Toter in der Zuständigkeit der Polizei. Gemäß INTERPOL-Standards werden primäre (DNA, Fingerabdrücke, Zähne) und sekundäre Merkmale (z. B. Tätowierungen) untersucht. Die forensische Zahnmedizin wird als effiziente Methode bereits international eingesetzt. In dieser Studie soll auf Länderebene in Deutschland die Vorgehensweise der Polizei analysiert werden. Untersucht werden angewandte Methoden bei der Identifizierung, die Rolle der forensischen Zahnmedizin, die Zusammenarbeit mit Zahnärzt*innen und mögliche Optimierungsansätze.MethodenMittels eines digitalen Fragebogens sollten in allen Bundesländern für Funde unbekannter Toter zuständige Polizeibeamt*innen zu Identifizierungsmethoden und speziell zur Anwendung forensischer Zahnmedizin befragt werden.Ergebnisse85 Sachbearbeiter*innen aus mind. 11 Bundesländern nahmen an der Befragung teil. Die Vorgehensweise stellte sich als dienststellenspezifisch heraus. In 72,6 % der Fälle werden bei der Identifizierung verschiedene Merkmale kombiniert, am häufigsten DNA mit Zahnstatus (37,1 %). Die DNA-Analyse wird am häufigsten verwendet. 62,9 % der Befragten stimmten zu, dass die zahnärztliche Identifizierung „oft“ angewendet wird. Der Anteil der Identifizierungen mittels Zahnstatus wird auf 1,6–8,1 % geschätzt. Für die forensische Zahnmedizin haben 19,4 % eine feste Ansprechperson. Eine digitale Plattform, um Zahnmediziner*innen zu kontaktieren, schätzten 56,5 % als hilfreich ein.DiskussionDie forensische Zahnmedizin steht aktuell noch hinter der DNA-Analyse zurück, was sich durch die zunehmende Digitalisierung ändern könnte, wenn z. B. Ante-mortem-Daten zuverlässiger zur Verfügung stehen und Plattformen für den interdisziplinären Austausch geschaffen werden.

A driving force, a driven force? Social media and police self-legitimacy

Social media (SM) have changed the conditions and forms of public communications and have been part of the standard communication repertoire of police authorities for a while now. Despite their importance, many aspects have been insufficiently researched, including their role in the self-legitimisation of the police. This article examines the SM strategies of police press and public relations in the context of an increasingly critical public in Germany. Based on expert interviews with press officers from German police authorities, it shows how police organisations are evaluating the changing communication landscape and which strategies they are pursuing to appear as legitimate authorities in an increasingly networked world. The focus is on how the police are adapting to the new technologies of SM and using them to negotiate legitimacy. We show how the police use SM to shape public debate, generate resonance and deal with the perceived loss of their interpretive authority. For this purpose, we question the self-image of the police as given by their media representatives. We examine it in discursive political struggles over crime and legitimacy. We show that social technological changes are turning the police into an active, opinion-forming actor who permanently have to negotiate their authority through visibility.

The de-escalating potential of body-worn cameras: Results from six German police departments

PurposeThe implementation of body-worn cameras (BWCs) has received increasing attention as a potential tool to reduce acts of violence against police officers (POs). However, scientific studies on the effectiveness of BWCs in protecting POs are limited. This study examined this effectiveness in six German police departments in the state of Thuringia. MethodsA repeated-measures design was employed over a 17-week period, collecting data on experienced aggressive attacks through questionnaires after each shift. The shifts were categorized into those with (N = 3609) and without (N = 2661) BWCs. Furthermore, a separate questionnaire was used to collect information on each specific reported event. ResultsThe results showed that the presence of BWCs had a modest de-escalating effect on the aggressiveness of affected individuals, especially when the recording was activated. However, cooperation decreased in the presence of BWCs. Moreover, BWCs appear to have a more escalating effect on individuals under the influence of intoxicating substances or mental distress. ConclusionsThe data obtained in this study do not justify uncritical optimism about the overall de-escalatory effect of BWCs. Nevertheless, the results do indicate that BWCs can have a de-escalatory effect when used in a differentiated manner and in specific situations.

The (in-)visibility of difference: gay and lesbian identities and the German police

While modern police organizations have included diversity in their portfolio of guiding orientations, there has been little research on the sexual identity of police officers and their perceptions in Germany. Based on current scientific discourses on the construction and impact of human categories, this article provides an explorative empirical-qualitative analysis of views, perceptions, and experiences of German police officers with gay and lesbian sexual identities. We conducted in-depth semi-structured interview with officers who identified themselves as gay or lesbian (n = 8). Applying a reflexive thematic approach to data analysis, the results point to an internal police dominance of a two-gender identity concept, in which heterosexual masculinity forms the guiding value and third possibilities remain largely invisible. The findings offer a reason to critically reflect on the existing dominance of heterosexually formatted distinctions and thus to further expand German police organization’s claim to diversity.

Peculiarities of some law enforcement agencies’s activities: national and foreign experience

It has been determined that the MIA system reform is aimed at improving and optimising its structure, organising activities with a view to combating crime and corruption, timely detection of collaboration and prevention of threats to Ukraine’s external and internal security, and improving the level of protection of citizens' rights and freedoms and prevention of offences. The goal of this process is to complete the transformation of the MIA system into a law enforcement agency that meets modern European requirements. The peculiarities and current trends in the development of law enforcement systems of the European Union, the USA and Japan in terms of measures aimed at ensuring the proper state of public security and public order have been studied. The principles of municipal police units functioning in Germany, the UK, the USA and Japan have been considered.
 An analysis of the National Police and other law enforcement agencies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine has been carried out, and the peculiarities and current trends in the development of law enforcement systems of foreign countries with regard to measures aimed at ensuring the proper state of public security and public order have been studied. The means of interaction between the police and local executive authorities, local self-government, public organisations and the public have been considered.
 Taking into account international experience, the author makes proposals for improving the main areas of activity of law enforcement agencies of the MIA of Ukraine. It has been suggested to consider the possibility of reviving the functioning of municipal (local) police units in Ukraine, which should assist regional police units in solving the tasks of public order protection and combating offences. In this regard, it is appropriate to use the experience of municipal police in Germany, the UK, the USA and Japan, as well as in Ukraine.

Social disadvantage and trust in German police: Empirical evidence on procedural justice theory and context effects on perceived fairness in urban neighbourhoods

Current public debates about rising violence against police officers, and conversely, criticism of racial profiling by the police force, contradict the high levels of trust in the German police reported by public surveys. This raises the question of why the tension between the police and citizens arises. German Criminology has not yet exploited the potential of procedural justice theory to explain the shifting dynamics of trust. Empirical studies on how evaluations of police fairness and effectiveness influence police legitimacy in Germany have long been overdue. Additionally, there is minimal evidence of whether police fairness is experienced differently in different social contexts. Therefore, this study answers two pertinent research questions: (1) To what extent does trust in German police and police legitimacy depend on procedural fairness? (2) To what extent do residents in socially disadvantaged neighbourhoods have lower levels of trust in police fairness? Consistent with international research on procedural justice theory, the results reveal significant effects of normative predictors of trust in the police, such as perceived fairness and neighbourhood trust. Using advanced multilevel modelling, this study observes the effects of two contextual variables (welfare recipients and official crime rates) on neighbourhood levels of trust in police fairness. The results reveal that the impact of personal assessments of the neighbourhood, personal disadvantages, and experiences with the police exceeds neighbourhood context effects.

Job Resources in the Police: Main and Interaction Effects of Social and Organizational Resources

The Job Demands-Resources model postulates job resources to directly promote employees’ mental health and to interact with job demands. Recent meta-analyses revealed differential effects of social and organizational resources. Studies of job resources in police officers predominantly included social resources and have rarely examined differential effects, interaction effects, and both negative and positive mental health outcomes. The present study provides a comprehensive test of job resources for the mental health of police officers: Main and interaction effects of social and organizational resources were tested on burnout symptoms and job satisfaction. Survey data were collected from 493 German police officers. Social (support, sense of community, leadership quality) and organizational resources (influence at work, possibilities for development, meaning of work), demands (quantitative, emotional, work privacy conflicts), burnout symptoms, and job satisfaction were assessed with an online questionnaire. Stepwise regression analyses and moderator analyses (PROCESS) were performed. Job resources contributed to the prediction of burnout symptoms and job satisfaction beyond job demands. Organizational resources explained substantial variance beyond social resources. Sense of community and possibilities for development were the most influential resources, and work privacy conflicts were the most influential demand. In addition, work privacy conflicts strengthened the association between sense of community and job satisfaction. The study confirms that social as well as organizational resources are protective for police officers’ mental health. Sense of community and possibilities for development emerged as promising starting points for measures to prevent burnout and promote job satisfaction.

How do German police officers of varying empathy levels react to different styles of interviewing a suspected sex offender?

The United Nations' ‘Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment’, disseminated an extensive ‘Universal protocol’ on interviewing/interrogation styles in summer 2021. Its implementation across the world is likely to be influenced by current practices in various countries (such as the rapport building and empathy employed). The aims of the present study were (i) to examine German police officers' estimates of suspect interviews in four different styles of suspect interviews (‘humane’, dominant’, ‘theme development’ or ‘neutral’); and (ii) to see whether interviewers' level of empathy is associated with their reactions to the interview styles. There were significant effects found in the dominant interviewing style regarding the participants' estimation of (i) interviewer fairness towards suspect, (ii) interviewer's understanding on suspect's thought-process toward the crime, (iii) whether the interviewer was aggressive, or (iv) humane, and (v) whether the interview was conducted well. Officers' empathy level only had an effect for the dominant interviewing style.

Policing divided societies. Requirements for the civic education of police officers

PurposeThe demands on the police to ensure security and order have increased in times of growing right-wing extremism, corona protests and widespread criticism of and dissatisfaction with democratic structures and processes. Protection, escort or even confrontation in the course of public demonstrations and protests as well as the protection, e.g. of politicians, synagogues or mosques requires additional deployment of the police and poses extended challenges. However, the police force itself also faces various problems with antidemocratic, violent or extremist police officers. The purpose of this paper is to elaborate why and how civic education of police officers can be a cornerstone to respond to the described challenges and improve democratic policing.Design/methodology/approachThis paper describes how civic education can be organized in police training and further education and how it can be designed in cooperation with civil society actors. It is based on a research and development project conducted between 2016 and 2021 under the title “Civic Education and Police.”FindingsCivic education can or could be an approach in sensitizing police officers to social conflicts and in better understanding the background and reasons for their deployment. Moreover, civic education can be helpful in preventing abuse of power and police violence, reducing negative aspects of esprit de corps and strengthening police legitimacy.Practical implicationsCivic education of police officers can help to understand conflicts and social tensions, strengthen the understanding of the society, improve police investigation, reduce misbehavior and support legitimacy in the democratic state.Originality/valueThe article uses findings from the project Civic Education and Police, which was funded by the Federal Agency for Civic Education between 2016 and 2021. Project partners were the German Police University and the University of Applied Sciences for Police and Public Administration in North Rhine-Westphalia. The project conducted empirical studies on the supply and demand structure of civic education for and in the police. In addition, a database of educational concepts, a series of conferences and a new journal for conference documentation, research and special issues were launched.