Police in Dortmund’s North Station (Wache Nord)—a group of officers tasked with carrying out policing activities in the city’s most multicultural district—have leveled serious accusations against their leadership, with some officers saying that the city’s police headquarters, which is subordinate to the state’s interior ministry, has instructed them to interact with migrants as seldom as possible.
Police officers from the North Station, while speaking under anonymity to the German news outlet Bild, described their increasingly politically hostile work environment.
“You are dropped immediately if there are accusations [against you], whether they’re from repeat offenders or left-wing extremists. There is no longer a presumption of innocence for us,” one officer said.
Another officer who also wished to remain anonymous told the newspaper that there is a “deliberate criminalization of colleagues,” adding that officers who speak out against the deteriorating situation in the surrounding district are encouraged to transfer out of the station. Officers also state they are under near-constant surveillance from higher-ups.
“Our social media profiles have even been searched, with private photo albums objected to because we allegedly have right-wing extremist tendencies. The police chief only wants to look good, we do not interest him,” said one of the officers.
“We can no longer monitor hotspots. We just rush from mission to mission,” another officer said, telling the paper that there are “fewer and fewer colleagues.” “In some cases, shifts were reduced by ten police officers. In the early morning and night shifts, there are often only two patrol cars for the whole northern part of the city.”
The political conditions police face have apparently made them apprehensive about intervening against open-air drug dealers. “The police don’t want any new trouble,” a shopkeeper in the neighborhood was quoted as saying.
The officers say the stifling conditions under which they’re currently working have developed in the wake of the death of Senegalese national Mouhamed D., a 16-year-old youth armed with a knife who was shot dead after he allegedly aggressively approached officers in Dortmund’s Nordstadt district last year. Following the incident, an inquiry was launched against the officers involved, with those conducting the investigation claiming the use of firearms was disproportionate.
Due to concerns over negative press coverage, officers say they have been told to limit their interactions with the migrant population as much as possible.
“We were clearly told by the presidium to control as few migrants as possible, given the tense situation that has arisen in the wake of the death of the Senegalese youth. But who should we then check in Nordstadt, since almost only migrants live there?” asked one law enforcement officer. “At a demonstration after the fatal shooting, an African registered a complaint against police violence. The man matched the description from an arrest warrant, but we were still forbidden by the chief from arresting this man.”
