BSW on public safety

The BSW wants more staff and better equipment for the police so they are visible in public spaces and can prosecute crimes. Security tasks should not be privatized. Especially intrusive powers should remain limited to the most serious crimes.

The BSW wants more police officers and better equipment. Police should be visible on streets and squares. Private companies should not take over police tasks. Strong surveillance should only be used for very serious crimes.

More staff and equipment are also meant to help fight clan crime, cybercrime and terrorism. The platform relies on training and continuing education in academies and training centers. Attacks on enforcement officers, emergency responders and medical staff should be charged and punished faster. AI-based data analysis and automated data matching should only be allowed to protect against extremism, terrorism and the most serious offenses.

The BSW wants to abolish the special criminal offense of insulting politicians that was introduced in 2021. Politicians must face citizens' criticism, it argues, and police and prosecutors should be relieved of such cases.

Today, people who insult politicians can get a special punishment. The BSW wants to remove this rule. Politicians should put up with criticism. The police should deal with more important things.

The relevant offense in Section 188 of the Criminal Code is to be removed. The platform names house searches over insults to politicians and scanning the internet for insults as tasks that should not be police work. According to the BSW, such cases tie up capacity that is missing elsewhere.

The BSW wants to abolish the monitoring category "delegitimization of the state" at the Verfassungsschutz (domestic intelligence agency). The agency should not protect the government or damage fundamental rights. Parliament should oversee it effectively.

The Verfassungsschutz is a domestic intelligence agency. It also watches people who talk down the state. The BSW wants to end this task. Parliament should check the agency closely.

The platform lists the agency's tasks as early detection of extremism, preventing terrorism and activities that endanger the state, and counterespionage. According to the platform, the disputed category was created partly in response to protests against Covid measures. Because the agency is bound by government instructions, parliamentary oversight should be thorough. The BSW says it will make full use of its rights in the Bundestag for this.