AfD on public safety

The AfD wants to expand the state police from 9,148 to 10,000 full-time positions and relieve officers of administrative work. The platform cites more than a million hours of overtime and the goal of improving security.

The AfD wants more police officers in the state. There would be 10,000 full-time positions. Today there are 9,148. Officers would do less office work. That way they have more time to protect people.

According to the platform, the 9,148 full-time positions are spread across about 9,800 officers, who on average have built up overtime equal to more than 2.5 months of duty. Officers would be freed from administrative tasks so they can focus on protection and investigation. The AfD expects more visible presence and faster response times. The goal is for people to move around public spaces without fear.

The AfD wants to renovate the state police academy (Hochschule der Polizei) at Hahn Airport and add modern training facilities. The platform describes most of the buildings as being in very poor condition and sees good training as a contribution to public safety.

Police officers train at their own academy at Hahn Airport. The AfD says the buildings are in bad shape. The party wants to renovate them. It also wants a new center for operations training.

The academy is the central site for training and continuing education of the state police and uses a former US military property. In addition to the renovation, an operations training center is planned. The AfD wants this to prepare the police for growing demands.

The AfD calls for a firm approach to crime with more police presence and expanded powers to intervene against suspects. Prevention would be strengthened at the same time. The platform points to higher figures for violent and sexual offenses in 2024.

The AfD wants to be strict with criminals. More police officers would be on streets and squares. The police would get more powers against suspects. The party also wants more work to prevent crime.

Police would be more present especially at crime hot spots. Their powers to intervene would be adapted to what the AfD sees as a changed threat situation. Sexual and violent offenses would be punished strictly; in the party's view, offenders' cultural background or trauma should not reduce the sentence. Regular crime situation reports and studies of unreported crime would help target strategies and prevention.

The AfD wants a study of unreported crime to be carried out every three years. Because police crime statistics only show offenses that became known, the study is meant to complete the picture and allow police to be deployed in a targeted way.

Many crimes are never reported to the police. The AfD wants a study on this every three years. Victims would be asked questions for it. This should help the police plan better.

The plan calls for representative victim surveys in counties and independent cities. They would record how often people report crimes, how safe they feel, and why offenses go unreported. According to the platform, unreported crime is especially high for sexual offenses, fraud against older people and physical violence. The scientific analysis is meant to help police and policymakers with prevention and the use of their resources.

The AfD wants to make police service more attractive through higher pay, allowances that count toward pensions, and optional free health care provided by the state (freie Heilfürsorge). The aim is for fewer officers to move to the federal police or neighboring states and to reach the planned staffing level sooner.

The AfD wants to pay police officers more. Allowances would also count toward their pension. Officers could choose free health care paid by the state. This should keep more officers in the state.

Pay would be raised to the nationwide level. Police allowances would count when pensions are calculated. The platform justifies the free health care with the job's particular physical risk, which the state as employer should share, and with shorter recovery times. The AfD expects fewer trained officers to leave for the federal police or for Hesse and Baden-Württemberg.

The AfD wants the origin of suspects to be named publicly and dual citizenship to be recorded in police crime statistics. In the platform's view, the current picture is distorted because dual citizens are counted only as Germans.

The AfD wants to name publicly where suspects come from. Police statistics would count people with two passports separately. So far they count only as Germans. The party says this is the only way to get a full picture.

The crime statistics would get a separate category for dual citizens. The platform cites North Rhine-Westphalia as a model. The AfD notes that non-German suspects made up 32 percent in 2024 while non-Germans were 14 percent of the population. It says complete data on citizenship and migration background are needed for effective prevention and investigation.

Following Bavaria's example, the AfD wants to create a state border police force and monitor the borders with France, Luxembourg and Belgium, for instance with drones. The platform justifies this with cross-border crime such as the blowing up of ATMs.

Rhineland-Palatinate borders France, Luxembourg and Belgium. The AfD wants to set up its own border police. Bavaria already has one. Drones would also watch the border. This is meant to help against gangs from abroad.

According to the platform, the state's border with the three neighboring countries is about 290 kilometers long, and the AfD regards it as a hot spot for transnational crime. The new border police would monitor the border and nearby areas. Technical surveillance, for example by drone, would be added.

The AfD wants to improve training and equipment for volunteer and professional fire departments and expand the state fire and disaster protection academy in Koblenz. The platform considers investment in buildings and technology necessary to prepare emergency personnel well.

The AfD wants better equipment for fire departments. The fire academy in Koblenz would get a new building. Volunteer fire departments would get vehicles for rough ground and floods. Professional firefighters could choose free health care paid by the state.

A new lecture hall building would be built at the Koblenz academy right away, along with lodging and sanitary facilities. Emergency vehicles would be ordered in bulk statewide and standardized to cut costs. Volunteer fire departments would receive vehicles that can operate off-road and in floods. Optional free health care is planned for professional firefighters so that personnel do not leave for other states or company fire brigades.

The AfD wants to make working in prisons more attractive. Staff would get personal protective gear, could choose free state health care instead of the civil-servant subsidy scheme, and the so-called Gitterzulage (prison service allowance) would again count toward pensions. The program cites many vacant positions and rising violence in prisons.

The AfD wants to improve jobs in prisons. Every staff member should get their own protective gear. An extra payment should also count for the pension later. The party says many jobs are unfilled and the work has become more dangerous.

According to the program, prisons lack suitable protective clothing such as stab-proof vests because gear is not assigned to individuals. Anyone in contact with inmates would therefore receive personal equipment. Staff would be allowed to opt for free health care (Heilfürsorge) instead of the Beihilfe subsidy when ill. The Gitterzulage would again count toward retirement pay, as the program says is the case in North Rhine-Westphalia and Baden-Württemberg. The AfD wants to keep applicants and staff from moving to other states.

The AfD wants the protection of crime victims to take priority over the protection of offenders. Victims and their relatives would get better support, and offenders would be treated more strictly. For convicted foreign offenders, the thresholds for expulsion and deportation would be lowered sharply.

The AfD wants to protect and support crime victims better. It wants to be stricter with offenders. Foreigners who were convicted should be easier to deport. Criminals should not get a German passport.

The program describes a rise in violent and sexual offenses and says victims are under greater psychological strain and often feel left alone. The AfD therefore calls for better care for victims and their relatives. The courts are to be given tools that deter potential offenders and repeat offenders. For foreign offenders, bureaucratic obstacles would be removed, the requirements for expulsion and deportation lowered considerably, and naturalization of criminals ruled out. The party expects this to improve people's sense of safety in public spaces and reduce the number of victims.

The AfD rejects tighter gun laws and wants to keep today's rules. In its view, the danger usually comes from illegally obtained weapons, not registered ones. It wants to respond with tougher penalties for illegal gun possession and for using firearms in crimes.

The AfD does not want stricter gun laws. It says illegal guns are the main danger. People who own a gun illegally should get harsher punishment. Hunters and other legal owners should be able to keep their guns.

The program considers gun law already very strict and argues that tighter rules would mainly hit people who need weapons for work, such as hunters. Instead of new restrictions, criminal law on illegal firearm possession and on crimes committed with firearms would be toughened. Crime statistics would distinguish whether a weapon was held legally or illegally. The minor firearms license (kleiner Waffenschein) would also stay, keeping weapons for self-defense accessible.

The AfD wants violence and threats against staff in hospitals, practices and ambulance services to be punished consistently. At the same time, it wants to promote respectful behavior among the public.

Many workers in hospitals and doctors' offices experience violence. Ambulance crews are affected too. The AfD wants offenders to be punished strictly. It also wants to promote more respect.

According to the platform, more than 90 percent of staff in hospitals, practices and ambulance services have experienced violence or threats from patients, relatives or bystanders. The AfD wants to raise awareness of the problem. It does not consider more security staff, bodyguards and self-defense courses the right prevention strategy. These places should be marked by trust, respect and safety.