German police methods foster bias, racial profiling, finds study

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By Riham Alkousaa

BERLIN (Reuters) -German police practices foster systemic discrimination, with officers routinely engaging in racial profiling and relying on ethnic stereotypes, according to a study published on Monday by an online portal that tracks data on immigration and asylum.

The study by Mediendienst Integration comes amid concerns among activists about increasing racism in Germany and the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

In routine police work, ethnic minorities, especially those perceived as migrants, are disproportionately targeted in patrols, risk assessments and police interactions, the study, conducted in Germany’s western state of Lower Saxony, showed.

“We have described police working habits and patterns which are transferable to all police forces,” Astrid Jacobsen, the study co-author, told journalists on Monday.

There was no immediate response from the interior ministry to the study.

The findings indicate that officers often rely on racial markers rather than behaviour when conducting proactive patrols.

Individuals perceived as “Black Africans” or “Albanians” are often associated with drug crimes, leading to heightened police attention, it added.

Groups such as southern Europeans, Russians, and so-called “clan” members are labelled as more violent or uncooperative, the study found, prompting an exaggerated police response.

The research, conducted by two professors at the Lower Saxony Police Academy, also showed that officers often assume hostility or disrespect from young men of Arab or Turkish descent as well as politically left-leaning individuals, resulting in harsher treatment.

OVER-POLICING

Such assumptions lead to over-policing, with a larger force deployed for situations involving these groups, irrespective of the actual threat level, in addition to reinforcing negative perceptions of these groups as threats to public safety.

Asked about the possible impact of a deadly attack linked to the Islamic State in the western German town of Solingen on increasing racial profiling, Jacobsen said criminology clearly identifies the experience of discrimination as a key factor in radicalisation in Germany.

Language barriers were found to exacerbate discrimination. Police tend to prematurely end interviews with non-German speakers due to time constraints and lack of adequate translation services, leading to incomplete investigations and insufficient victim support.

Activists and some politicians have long accused the police of not doing enough to unearth potentially violent nationalists in their ranks, a sensitive issue in Germany where awareness of Nazi atrocities before and during World War Two is strong.

In 2020, 29 police officers were suspended for sharing pictures of Adolf Hitler and doctored images of refugees in gas chambers in private chats.

(Reporting by Riham Alkousaa, Editing by Miranda Murray and Gareth Jones)