Alexander Oerke, Berlin Citizens' and Police Commissioner (BeBuePol)
© dpa
As the Berlin Citizens' and Police Commissioner has become better known, the number of complaints and petitions has risen again.
At the same time, cooperation with the authorities has improved, writes commissioner Alexander Oerke in his current annual report 2024, which was presented in the House of Representatives.
784 complaints were received by his authority with nine employees in 2024, 83 per cent more than in 2023 (429). He expects to receive more than 1,100 complaints in 2025. Communication with the authorities has continued to improve, explained Oerke. "They have largely shed their original mistrust of a 'further supervisory authority' and no longer react to calls from my employees with incomprehension or even rejection."
70 per cent of complaints were formally addressed to the Ombudsman, 30 per cent concerned the police. For example, there were many critical submissions due to long naturalisation procedures for foreigners. Residence permits and social benefits were other topics, wrote Oerke. Other issues included residents' parking permits, fines and driving licences. On the subject of the police, the commissioner categorised 8 percent of complaints as justified, while 29 percent were unfounded. A further 28 per cent of the complaints were resolved through counselling and mediation. The remainder could not be resolved or were resolved in another way.
Complaints concerned, for example, the way police officers dealt with mentally ill people or people with behavioural problems. The problem has been recognised and the police are working on an improved concept, Oerke explained in the report. Oerke took action against abusive police officers in several cases. For example, police officers had used official channels to exert pressure on a woman during a private dispute with an allotment gardener and reported her to the police. All three police officers are now under disciplinary and criminal investigation.
A lengthy search of a flat and hours-long arrest of a man for growing cannabis was deemed excessive by the police commissioner and criticised by the police. "The police consider the criticism of the excessive measures to be justified and took the incident as an opportunity for an intensive follow-up." However, among the many complaints about the police, for example during deployments to demonstrations or deportations, there were also several that were rejected by Oerke as unjustified. Because the police refused to allow the commissioner to inspect files in one case and to view videos from a so-called bodycam in another, he filed a complaint with the administrative court.
During internal police investigations into police officers for possible offences, the commissioner found "considerable abuses" and "premature determination" in some cases. "Police officers were subjected to criminal proceedings that exceeded the usual scope of investigations, even in the case of minor offences." Exculpatory evidence was ignored and the investigations were in some cases one-sidedly incriminating. Reviews were called for. The Police and Ombudsman is supposed to be an independent point of contact for citizens in the event of conflicts with the police or another authority. Oerke works on behalf of the House of Representatives and has been in office since August 2022.