AfD on public safety

The AfD wants to take the Verfassungsschutz (domestic intelligence service) out of the interior ministry and run it as a separate state office. Its leadership is to answer to a parliamentary body with representatives of all parties in the state parliament. This is meant to rule out party-political influence by the minister.

In Lower Saxony the domestic intelligence service is part of the interior ministry. The AfD wants to make it a separate office. The minister should no longer have influence over it. A group from the state parliament should oversee the office. All parties in parliament should have a seat there.

The program points out that Lower Saxony, unlike other states, has only a department within the interior ministry that is bound by the minister's instructions. The party sees this as an opening for party-political influence. The head of the new office would have to give the oversight body full information at any time. Its members would be bound to secrecy, and every party represented in the state parliament would send delegates regardless of whether it has parliamentary group status.

The AfD rejects any further tightening of the Weapons Act and the implementation of the EU Firearms Directive. In its view, the rules only affect law-abiding sport shooters, hunters and collectors, not illegal weapons. Instead, illegal gun ownership and trafficking are to be tackled.

The AfD does not want stricter gun laws. It also rejects an EU rule on guns. The party says the rules only hit hunters, sport shooters and collectors. The state should rather act against illegal guns.

The program calls German gun law one of the strictest in the world and considers the tightening after terrorist attacks unnecessary. It criticizes Germany for going beyond the EU requirements when implementing them. As an example it names the registration duty for muzzle-loading guns, which in the party's view criminalizes owners who had held them legally. It argues that restrictions on legal gun owners do not improve protection against terrorism.

The AfD calls for tougher action against left-wing extremism. Public funding is to be granted only if recipients declare they do not support extremist structures. Violent Antifa groups are to be classified as terrorist organizations and the platform "Indymedia" is to be banned.

The AfD wants stronger action against left-wing violence. Groups should only get state money if they make a promise. They must declare that they do not support extremists. Violent Antifa groups should count as terror groups. The website Indymedia should be banned.

According to the program, the other parties have not fought left-wing extremism, while it is increasingly turning into terrorism. The party criticizes that the federal government dropped the earlier clause in 2014 and that tax money goes to initiatives "against the right." Antifa logos are to be classified as anti-constitutional symbols. The AfD wants to prevent, or reverse, a privileged status for Antifa research planned by the federal government.

The AfD wants to strengthen the state police by reforming its structure and training. A public order force and municipal order offices with broader powers would take over routine tasks so the police can focus on protecting people from crime.

The AfD wants a stronger police force. A new public order force should do simple tasks. For example, it should record accidents and check speed. The police should then focus on crime.

Following Berlin's example, a public order force would be created and municipal order offices would get more powers. According to the program, recording accidents, speed checks, and traffic monitoring do not need to be done by police officers. Specially trained judicial investigators could also take over investigative work for prosecutors. The size, equipment, and organization of the police should follow from a professional review of its tasks; the AfD rejects staffing based on budget constraints and outside political influence.

The AfD wants to pay volunteer firefighters for operations, drills, and training, and suggests a pension scheme as an incentive. Professional fire departments would get more staff and equipment because, according to the program, their tasks are becoming more complex.

The AfD wants more people to join the volunteer fire service. They should get money for operations and drills. Their service should also raise their pension later. Professional fire departments should get more staff and equipment.

The program argues that fewer young volunteers are available and that employers often see this commitment as a drawback. An occupational pension model would turn training duty, real operations, and time away from family into pension entitlements. For full-time firefighters, the formula linking staff numbers to population would be revised. The program says it reflects neither the higher fire load of complex buildings nor the challenge of extinguishing electric vehicles. The AfD wants more operational staff and less administration.

The AfD wants to better protect ambulance and rescue staff from assaults while on duty. The state would support the services with self-protection measures, such as buying stab-resistant vests.

Rescue workers are sometimes attacked at work. The AfD wants to protect them better. The state should help buy protective vests, for example. These vests protect against knife stabs.

The program points to a growing number of physical attacks on rescue workers. It cites 216 workers who it says were attacked with a knife during operations in Lower Saxony and Bremen in 2020, as well as a study by the German Red Cross. The AfD wants to find self-protection solutions that match actual needs. As an example, it names help with purchasing stab-resistant vests.

The AfD wants to strengthen disaster response with more staff and equipment and build the state's own response units. It also wants food stockpiles for crises and a modernized system for alerting the public and emergency crews.

The AfD wants better protection in disasters. The state should get its own units for this. There should be food reserves for a crisis. People should get better warnings when there is danger.

The program points to the Ahr valley flood and to earlier floods, storm surges, and the heath fire in Lower Saxony. It says the state lacks its own reserves and depends on the federal government and private companies, and is not prepared for a large power outage. The AfD calls for state disaster response units and food storage, arguing that pandemics, environmental disasters, cyberattacks, and terrorism now matter alongside military risks. Alerts should use broader, modern channels such as mobile networks and digitally upgraded sirens. Emergency crews should not be overworked.

The AfD wants a stricter prison system: lower standards for inmates, work to cover prison costs, and drug searches in cells. Relaxations of custody would require the prosecutor's consent, and rehabilitation would rank behind protecting the public.

The AfD wants stricter rules in prison. Inmates should not live better than people in nursing homes. Their work should cover prison costs. Day release and leave should need the prosecutor's approval. Safety should matter more than help for offenders.

Living standards in prison should not exceed those in homes for the elderly and nursing homes. Inmate labor should cover at least part of the cost of imprisonment. Members of gangs and of groups the program calls criminal-religious would be separated from other inmates. In drug searches, such as sniffer dogs in cells, personal rights would take second place. Prisons would no longer decide alone on open custody, leave, and day release. Rehabilitation programs would go only to those who are suited for them and earn them.

The AfD wants juvenile sentences to be imposed very quickly and would create new judgeships for this. Minor offenses would also be punished immediately; overall, law enforcement would focus on violent, sexual, drug, and burglary crimes as well as extremist offenses.

The AfD wants fast punishment for young offenders. For this, there should be more judges. Small offenses like graffiti should also be punished right away. The AfD does not want lenient courts.

In the AfD's view, quick, short juvenile sentences have an educational effect. The party cites the broken windows theory, under which even small damage leads a neighborhood to decline; it sees cleanliness as crime prevention. It rejects consideration for offenders' life circumstances and tolerance of minor offenses. It also wants stronger prosecution of crimes from the far-left milieu, which it says are currently ignored.

The AfD wants to raise sentencing ranges for repeat juvenile offenders significantly. The extra time is meant mainly for a longer rehabilitation phase in which the young people work and are subject to conditions.

The AfD wants tougher sentences for young people who commit crimes again and again. They should be supervised for a longer time. They should work and wear an ankle monitor. They should not get cash benefits from the state during this time.

According to the platform, the higher sentencing range is not primarily meant to lengthen prison time but to extend rehabilitation considerably. Voluntary stays in reform institutions could shorten the remaining sentence. Repeat offenders are to be removed permanently from their social environment. Ankle monitors are to ensure that they hold a job; violations would lead to a longer sentence or short-term detention. The AfD rules out cash benefits and adventure-based programs such as trips abroad at public expense.

The AfD wants repeat offenders to be held in pretrial detention as a rule and suspects with unclear identity or multiple citizenships to be detained in general. Forensic psychiatric custody (Maßregelvollzug) is to become stricter, with fewer relaxations. Protecting the public is to take priority over rehabilitation.

The AfD wants to hold more suspects in jail until their trial. This should apply to repeat offenders. It should also apply to suspects with unclear identity or several passports. Dangerous offenders should get leave less often. There should be more prison places.

For repeat offenders, the platform considers the risk of reoffending obvious and therefore wants pretrial detention to be ordered as a rule. Suspects with unclear identity or several citizenships are to be detained in general because of flight risk. The number of prison places is to rise and proceedings are to be sped up as a deterrent. The platform says about 15 dangerous inmates escape from forensic custody in Lower Saxony each year. It therefore wants more capacity there and fewer relaxations of custody.

The AfD wants to enforce the expulsion of foreign offenders and record the identity of all non-EU citizens entering the country. Crime statistics are to collect all data and make it available for analysis.

The AfD wants to send foreign offenders back to their home countries. The state should register everyone from outside the EU when they enter. Crime statistics should include more data. The AfD says this helps prevent crime.

The platform assumes that foreigners and Germans with a migration background commit crimes more often, especially violent ones, and cites statistics and studies for this. The AfD expects expelling foreign offenders to increase safety. The identity of people entering from non-EU countries is to be established without exception. Collecting complete data in the crime statistics is meant to improve prevention.

The AfD rejects negotiated verdicts in criminal proceedings and wants sentences to be suspended on probation less often. Prominent or wealthy people should get no advantage in sentencing. Criminal judges are also to accompany police on duty for one week each year.

The AfD wants no deals about verdicts in criminal trials. Famous and rich people should not get lighter sentences. Probation should be granted less often. Judges should spend one week a year on patrol with the police.

In the AfD's view, negotiated verdicts conflict with most citizens' sense of justice and harm trust in the independence of the courts. Establishing the truth is to be at the center of proceedings. On probation, the platform calls for a more restrictive approach so that offenders take sanctions seriously. Because the party believes verdicts against members of some groups are often too lenient, judges in criminal chambers, especially in larger cities, are to accompany police officers in problem areas.

The AfD wants to provide a free lawyer to every victim who joins a criminal case as a co-plaintiff and to expand the rights of victims and relatives in criminal proceedings. Witnesses, victims and judges are to be better protected from intimidation.

Crime victims should get a lawyer for free. This applies when they take part in the trial as co-plaintiffs. Witnesses and judges should be better protected. Courts should have protected rooms with video technology.

The platform justifies the victims' lawyer by pointing out that offenders are entitled to a court-appointed defense lawyer. Traumatized people are to receive more intensive, individually tailored support. Courts in Lower Saxony are to get protected witness rooms and interview rooms with video technology. The protection is meant, above all in organized crime and violent crime cases, to prevent offenders from escaping punishment through intimidation.