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For two years, police officers were recorded in sound and images without their knowledge at the police shooting ranges in Baden-Württemberg. The top management of the department does not want to have known about it – a cowardly error culture, comments Franz Feyder.
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Stuttgart – They did nothing for two years. Nothing at all. Although the Ministry of the Interior, which is also responsible for digitizing the country, knew that the recording modules used in the new shooting cinemas recorded every private and official word and filmed every step. Without the knowledge of the police officers. Politicians and trade unions speak of possible criminal offenses. The ministry is to blame, says the ministry. The leadership of the state police and the house are ignorant of the process. A remarkable error culture at a time when the values of police officers are being discussed in the country: It is “important to be aware of your own values and attitudes, but also of your professional values,” says an article in the DPZ , the police magazine for Baden-Württemberg.
Every syllable in this sentence can be underlined, if it weren’t for the answer to an FDP state parliament request with which the Interior Ministry tries to explain why its police officers were so on the skin for at least two years. That they were usually recorded every step of the way, without their knowledge, in picture and sound as soon as they entered the shooting theater. That criticism, tips, private conversations were recorded. What an eavesdropping!
All of this without a country-wide data protection concept being drawn up – although the problem was first recorded in June 2019 and a solution should be worked out in the ministry. By the time our newspaper reported this this June, it must have been forgotten in the State Police Headquarters (LPP).
In the LPP, according to the ministerial answer to parliament, only clerks knew about the nationwide problem. In no case “other positions within the LPP or the management level of the Ministry of the Interior”. The department, which is also responsible for digitization in the state, argues in all seriousness that there are obviously quantitative requirements there before legally compliant solutions are worked out: When the problem became known, only individual departments, seven of 23, were equipped with the recording module. They wanted to wait until all the systems were installed. A considerable line of argument: after all, the records are also about the suspicion of a criminal offense.
Although Parliament claims to have quoted verbatim from the minutes of the meetings in its question, the Ministry withheld the information that after the meeting in June 2019, two units of the LPP should be responsible for solving the problem. The message that is so officially sent to the 28,500 police officers in the country: “Our values are made only for you. For us, others apply. ”Lived error culture, truth, responsibility – these seem to be values that should be demanded and lived outside of the ministry. But once you have reached the top positions in the police force, you do not need such armaments, which are perceived as ballast.
The danger: subordinates are best managed, internalize values and align their behavior with ethical principles if their superiors set an example for them. Whoever demands of his subordinates to stand by his mistakes and to deal with them responsibly, has to do it himself. This is modern leadership. Everything else is roped-up thinking, cowardice. All that remains is chatter – or just an essay.
“It is important to be aware of your own values and attitudes, but also of your professional values!” This sentence should be chiseled in marble. It should be put up in the entrance of the Ministry of the Interior. Illuminated day and night so that everyone can see – and understand.
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