CDU on public safety

The CDU wants to give Berlin's police more staff, better equipment and renovated buildings. Officers are to be freed from paperwork so they can focus on their core duties.

The CDU wants a stronger police force in Berlin. There should be more officers. Their equipment should be better. Run-down police stations should be fixed. Police should have less paperwork.

With a wave of retirements ahead, the CDU wants new approaches to recruiting. Reporting and documentation duties are to be cut sharply, processes digitized and suitable tasks handed to other bodies. Plans include stab-proof vests, a modern vehicle fleet, twice as many shooting drills, priority renovation and new construction of stations and training centers, and water dispensers at all 24-hour stations. The forensic science institute is to receive more investment, and guarded central evidence storage facilities are to be built. Police, fire services and local public order offices are to cooperate more closely, for example through shared situation reports, and the CDU wants more support from the federal police.

The CDU wants police to be able to designate areas as high-crime locations more quickly so they can stop people there without specific suspicion. All operational units are also to be equipped with Tasers.

The police should get more powers. They should be able to label places as dangerous faster. There they may check people without suspicion. All officers on duty should get Tasers. A Taser is an electric shock device.

The CDU wants the new powers for video surveillance of public spaces to be used consistently. In addition, police are to get more leeway in designating high-crime locations so they can respond early to criminal trends. Operational units are to be fully equipped with Tasers, with regular training for officers. The use of artificial intelligence in analyzing police data is also to be put into practice.

The CDU wants to expand video surveillance at all high-crime locations, including the use of intelligent systems. An anti-theft program is to put cameras in busy public places.

The CDU wants more cameras in Berlin. They should be at all places with a lot of crime. Smart computer systems should help too. Busy squares and bike racks should also get cameras.

Intelligent video surveillance is to help prevent danger within the existing legal framework. The planned anti-theft program covers cameras in pedestrian zones, at major events, at bike parking and at all high-crime locations. Vulnerable police sites such as vehicle yards and access roads are also to be protected by video. Free crime-prevention advice is to be expanded, and a state program with low-interest loans and grants for burglary protection is to be considered.

The CDU wants to revise Berlin's state anti-discrimination law so it goes no further than federal rules. In the party's view, the law puts police officers under general suspicion.

Berlin has its own law against discrimination. The CDU wants to change this law. It should not be stricter than the federal rules. The CDU says the law distrusts police too much.

The program argues that the law casts blanket suspicion on officers who keep the public safe, sometimes at great personal risk. State rules are no longer to go beyond federal requirements. They are also not to stand in the way of firm action for the safety of Berliners.

Through the Bundesrat, the CDU wants higher minimum sentences for attacks on police and emergency workers. Foreign offenders, including EU citizens, are to be expelled and deported faster, and repeat offenders held in pretrial detention sooner.

People who attack police or rescuers should get harsher punishments. Foreign offenders should be deported faster. This also applies to people from the EU. Repeat offenders should go to jail faster.

The CDU regards any attack on first responders as an attack on the rule of law. A Bundesrat initiative is to raise the minimum sentence and tighten expulsion law. Foreign offenders are to be placed in pre-departure custody more quickly, and EU citizens could lose their freedom of movement. At the federal level, the CDU also wants stricter grounds for detention in criminal procedure law.

The CDU wants a dedicated police framework to protect energy, transport and communications networks against sabotage. The program points to the attack on Berlin's power grid as the background.

Power grids, transport and phone networks matter to everyone. The CDU wants to protect them better from attacks. Police should be there more often. Cameras should help.

Plans include more police presence at vulnerable sites and closer cooperation with operators. Modern security and surveillance technology is to be used within existing law. Transformer stations are also to be better secured and core networks made more resilient.

The CDU wants to equip Berlin's fire service with modern technology, new vehicles and stations, and to complete the joint police and fire control center. Volunteer fire brigades and relief organizations are to find it easier to drive heavy vehicles.

The fire service should get modern technology. This includes drones and firefighting robots. There should be new vehicles and new stations. Volunteers should find it easier to drive big trucks.

Electric vehicles are only to be bought if they do not impair operational readiness. Plans include new firefighting, aerial ladder and disaster-relief vehicles plus ambulances, new fire stations and a fire academy at the former Tegel airport. A separate control center for privately run patient transport, linked to the fire service, is to be set up. The state fire brigade association is to receive reliable funding, and a special fire service driver's license is to let volunteers from fire brigades and the THW (federal relief agency) drive vehicles over 3.5 tonnes more easily.

The CDU wants to make places where people feel unsafe less threatening through better lighting and clearer paths. The Nora emergency app is to be piloted with the BVG for public transit, and entry checks at outdoor pools are to stay.

Some places make people feel afraid. The CDU wants them brighter and easier to see. An emergency app should be tested on buses and trains. Outdoor pools should keep checking IDs.

Safety is to be considered from the start in urban, renovation and transport planning. The upgraded Nora app is to let passengers discreetly call for help and share their location at the push of a button, starting with a pilot project with the BVG (Berlin's transit operator). At outdoor pools, the CDU wants to keep ID requirements, bag checks and visitor management, and to ban troublemakers.

The CDU wants electronic ankle monitors used more often for high-risk offenders to enforce no-contact orders. At the federal level, criminal law is to include exploiting physical superiority as an aggravating element.

Dangerous offenders should wear ankle monitors more often. This device shows where the offender is. Victims should get a warning when the offender comes close. Violence against weaker people should be punished more strictly.

For serious violent crimes, exploiting physical superiority is to become a criminal law element to better protect especially vulnerable victims. No-contact orders are to be applied consistently and monitored with technology. Following other European countries, victims of repeat offenders are to receive devices on request that warn them when the offender approaches. Mandatory anti-violence programs are to be strengthened.

The CDU wants to break up drug networks and clan structures and to introduce an anonymous electronic tip system at the police. Modeled on Kottbusser Tor, a police station is to open at Leopoldplatz.

The CDU wants to crack down on drug dealing. People should be able to give police tips anonymously. This would work online. A new police station should open at Leopoldplatz.

The tip portal is to allow secure and confidential reports on drug dealing and organized crime. According to the program, the station opened at Kottbusser Tor in 2023 clearly reduced crime there. A station at Leopoldplatz is meant mainly to counter drug crime and improve residents' sense of safety.

The CDU wants to ban street prostitution throughout the city. It cites crime, neglect and burdens on residents in areas such as the Kurfürstenkiez and around Nollendorfplatz.

The CDU wants to ban prostitution on the street in all of Berlin. It says some neighborhoods suffer from crime because of it. Residents are affected. The state should not pay for sex boxes.

According to the program, neighborhoods like the Kurfürstenkiez suffer from crime and neglect, and children in daycare centers are not adequately protected. The CDU rejects public funding for so-called sex boxes or similar infrastructure. A future plan for safety, order and livability is to be developed for the Kurfürstenkiez.

The CDU wants to better protect energy, water, IT networks, transport routes and other key facilities from cyberattacks and sabotage. A comprehensive strategy, more surveillance and significantly higher investment are meant to achieve this. Sensitive information about these facilities should no longer become public through transparency rules.

Power, water and internet are very important for the city. The CDU wants to protect them better. The danger is attacks and sabotage. There should be more video cameras. The state should spend more money on this.

A strategy against attacks and sabotage from within Germany and abroad is to include more police surveillance, more video and sensor technology and structural safeguards, such as securing transformer stations or burying power lines. State departments and districts should remain operational in emergencies in areas like energy, water, food, telecommunications and health care. Disclosure duties under freedom of information, transparency and open data rules are to be reviewed and adjusted where the CDU sees them creating security risks.

The CDU wants to strengthen civil protection and disaster management in Berlin. It is considering a central state agency with a round-the-clock situation center, wants to expand sirens, increase funding for relief organizations and be able to call on all state employees in a crisis.

The CDU wants Berlin to be better prepared for disasters. There may be a new office just for this. There should be more sirens. Aid groups should get more money. In an emergency, all state workers should have to help.

The center for crisis management and district structures are to get more staff, and a state agency with a 24/7 situation center is under consideration. Sirens are to be expanded and integrated into the MoWaS system and the NINA warning app, emergency information points modernized and the digital radio for emergency services upgraded. Relief organizations should receive higher annual funding and their volunteers legal parity with firefighters; private ambulance transport companies are to serve as a reserve. All fire stations are to get backup generators, along with a fuel logistics plan and a possible central logistics hub.

The CDU wants to confiscate illegal profits of criminal clans and organized crime even more consistently. To that end, seizing funds such as those moved through hawala banking should become easier, and prosecutors, police and forensics should get more staff and equipment.

Criminal clans make a lot of illegal money. The CDU wants to take this money away. This should become even easier. Police and prosecutors should get more staff. There should be more checks on businesses.

The CDU wants to build on the reversal of the burden of proof already introduced for asset recovery and simplify the seizure of illegally transferred funds. Specialized units in the prosecutor's offices are to get more staff and training. Business oversight is to be reorganized to allow many more inspections. Forensics, IT forensics and surveillance teams are to be expanded, and prosecution of digitally organized drug crime, for example via SkyECC, is to be secured legally. The program cites seized amounts rising from 4.9 million euros in 2023 to 21.8 million euros in 2025.

The CDU wants unauthorized handling of semi-automatic handguns to be punished as a separate felony, citing what it sees as rising gun use in public. Organized trafficking in prescription drugs is also to be punished more harshly, and organized crime offenders are to be excluded from open prisons.

Guns are used more often in Berlin. The CDU wants harsher punishment. Illegally owning a semi-automatic pistol should be a serious crime. Illegal trade in medicine should also be punished harder. Gang members should not go to open prisons.

A separate felony offense is to be introduced for unauthorized handling of semi-automatic handguns. The Medicines Act is to classify organized trafficking in prescription drugs as an especially serious case. Organized crime offenders should not be placed in open prisons. More frequent cell searches, including with dogs trained to find drugs and data storage devices, are meant to stop crimes being committed from inside prison.

The CDU wants to give investigators more technical tools against organized crime, including AI analysis and the retention of IP addresses. The domestic intelligence agency would also be brought into the fight against organized crime, and witness protection would be strengthened.

The CDU wants to fight gang crime harder. Police should use more technology. This includes artificial intelligence. IP addresses should be stored. These are numbers that identify devices online. The domestic intelligence service should also help.

The plan includes AI-based analysis to fight money laundering, specialized software to evaluate data such as from EncroChat or SkyECC, and legally sound retention of IP addresses. Agencies are to share data more effectively. The grounds for pretrial detention due to risk of tampering with evidence would be broadened, and pressuring witnesses or court staff would carry higher penalties. The law governing the Verfassungsschutz (domestic intelligence) would be amended so it can examine links between organized crime and extremism. Car rental firms would need a business license to prevent misuse for drug transport or illegal street racing. At the EU level, the CDU wants to strengthen Eurojust.

The CDU wants to crack down harder on organized welfare fraud, fake residence registrations, and abuse of EU freedom of movement. Automated data matching, more joint operations by several agencies, and a new financial investigations center are planned.

The CDU wants to stop welfare fraud. Agencies should compare data automatically. Expensive cars owned by benefit recipients should be checked. Several offices should inspect together more often. A new center should fight money laundering.

Jobcenters and other agencies are to expand automated data matching, and registration procedures would be improved. Vehicle owner data would be queried regularly to spot expensive cars, seize them, and count them against benefits. Joint operations by public order offices, police, jobcenters, the family benefits office, tax investigators, and the courts would become more frequent. A joint operational center of prosecutors, police, and tax investigators would target money laundering, tax crimes, and terrorist financing.

The CDU wants to amend Berlin's law on freedom of assembly and restore "public order" as a criterion. Assemblies could be restricted, banned, or dispersed earlier when there are signs of violence. In the party's view, this protects peaceful protesters.

The CDU wants to change the law on protests. Police should be able to ban or end protests earlier. This applies when violence is likely. Masked or armed people should be stopped early. Videos should be stored longer.

When there are concrete signs of violence or crime, authorities would be able to restrict or ban assemblies early. Police would be allowed to act in advance against masked and armed participants. Carrying weapons at assemblies would face tougher penalties. Video recordings could be kept longer on a legally sound basis.

The CDU wants to give Berlin's domestic intelligence agency expanded powers against extremism, including examining access to communications data and public video footage. It cites the left-wing extremist attack on the power grid in January 2026 among its reasons and plans to re-establish a unit on left-wing extremism.

The CDU wants a stronger Verfassungsschutz. This office watches extremists. It should get more rights. It may be allowed to use chat data and videos. A judge should control this. A unit against left-wing extremism should come back.

Access by the Verfassungsschutz to communications data and public-space video footage would be examined, subject to judicial oversight and the required separation of police and intelligence. If state law is insufficient, the CDU would push federal initiatives. After the attack on the power supply in January 2026, the left-wing extremism unit would be re-established and strengthened, and the left-wing extremist milieu in parties and associations monitored. Exit programs for right-wing extremists would continue, and the prosecutors' department for state security offenses and hate crime would be expanded.

The CDU wants to make public calls for an Islamist theocracy, Sharia law, or a caliphate in Germany a criminal offense. It also wants to ban the association running the Al-Nur Mosque in Neukölln, which is monitored by domestic intelligence.

The CDU wants a new ban. Calling publicly for an Islamist religious state should be a crime. This also applies to Sharia. That is a religious law. A mosque association in Neukölln should be banned.

Public calls to establish an Islamist theocracy, introduce Sharia, or create a caliphate would become a criminal offense. The association "Islamische Gemeinschaft Berlin e.V.," which runs the Al-Nur Mosque, would be banned. The CDU would act against new radical organizations and consider further bans if needed.

The CDU wants to be able to ban antisemitic assemblies such as the Al-Quds march in advance and to expel foreign nationals who commit antisemitic crimes. At universities, antisemitic incidents would be punished up to expulsion, and Jewish life and prevention work would receive lasting funding.

The CDU wants to fight hatred of Jews harder. Protests against Jews or Israel should be banned in advance. Foreigners who commit such crimes should have to leave. At universities, students could be expelled. Support programs should get steady money.

Assemblies that incite hatred of Jews or question Israel's right to exist could be banned in advance, explicitly including the Al-Quds march. At the federal level, deportation law would be changed so that committing, condoning, or supporting antisemitic crimes has residence consequences. At universities, incidents would be reported and punished through house rules, temporary exclusion, and expulsion in serious cases; antisemitism commissioners would be strengthened, and the CDU opposes boycott calls against Israeli research. Anti-antisemitism work would ideally be secured through permanent budget lines, and programs like OpenArtsHub would be expanded and secured.

The CDU wants to greatly expand fast-track criminal proceedings and make them the norm for street crime. Hearings should take place the same day or within ten days if possible. The justice system is also to make more use of IT and artificial intelligence.

The CDU wants faster punishment. Street crimes should be handled very quickly. A court should decide on the same day or within ten days. Courts should use more computers and AI.

Guided by the principle that punishment should follow swiftly, fast-track proceedings would be expanded. Hearings should take place the same day or within ten days. In serious cases, witnesses would be questioned by a judge early on to secure evidence. To digitize the courts, the plan includes innovation contests, a standing dialogue forum with the judiciary, administration, and business, and stronger support for the Cyber Innovation Hub and Legal Tech Center.

The CDU wants to modernize Berlin's prisons, add more cells, and better protect prison staff. Judges would be able to work voluntarily until age 68, and the CDU wants to keep the Neutrality Act, which bans religious symbols in the courtroom.

The CDU wants more prison spaces. Prisons should be modernized. Staff there should be better protected. Judges may work until 68 if they want. Religious symbols stay banned in court.

A protection plan for prison staff includes training in security technology and self-defense, maintenance and replacement of gear such as stab-proof vests, and digital radios for all. Staff would get help blocking public access to their home addresses, and prison parking lots would get video surveillance and better lighting. Renovation of Unit III at Tegel prison would be pushed ahead. The judges' law would allow voluntary postponement of retirement to 68, and a bachelor's program for bailiffs is planned at the Berlin School of Economics and Law (HWR).

The CDU wants to push at the federal level for children to be criminally responsible from age 12 instead of 14, provided they are mature enough. A court procedure would order educational measures early and bindingly.

The CDU wants a new age limit for punishment. Today it starts at 14. In the future it should start at 12. The child must be mature enough. A court should order educational steps early.

Criminal responsibility would apply from a child's 12th birthday if the maturity required under Section 3 of the Youth Courts Act is present. A judicial "responsibility procedure" would be introduced. Educational measures would then be ordered bindingly by a court rather than later through youth welfare services.

The CDU supports video surveillance on the grounds and in the complexes of state-owned housing companies. In its view, modern technology can help detect and prevent burglary, vandalism and illegal dumping early.

The CDU wants cameras in state-owned housing. The cameras should stop break-ins. They should also help against damage and illegal trash. Housing complexes should also be easier to find your way in.

The program justifies this with a well-kept, safe living environment as part of quality of life. The CDU also welcomes clear design concepts in large complexes, such as distinct building entrances and good signage. This is meant to help older residents find their way.

The CDU wants to give Berlin's public order offices (Ordnungsämter) more staff, better equipment and additional powers. Over time they should operate around the clock where possible, taking pressure off the police.

The public order offices should get more staff. They should get better equipment too. For example, body cameras. They should be allowed to do more than today. This should help the police.

The plan calls for a significant staff increase, body cameras and regular operational training at the Berlin Police Academy. The offices should regain the ability to run wanted-vehicle checks on suspicious or illegally parked vehicles. Vetted private security firms and digital technology are to help pursue administrative offenses. From 2028 the offices are to join the joint control center of police and fire services, and the NOWI IT system is to be developed toward fully digital procedures based on police standards.

The CDU wants to consistently pursue illegal graffiti and have antisemitic, racist or extremist graffiti removed within 24 hours at the latest. At the same time, legal spaces for street art are to be promoted.

Illegal graffiti should be pursued. Hate graffiti should be removed fast. At the latest after 24 hours. There should also be legal spaces for street art. Paths should get better lighting too.

Artistically painted electrical and utility boxes are meant to improve the cityscape and prevent random graffiti. Dim streetlights are to be replaced. The public order office's online app is to let residents report poorly lit spots. Public toilets are to generate income from advertising over the long term, with the money going toward cleanliness, equipment and new locations.

To better solve anti-queer crimes, the CDU wants comprehensive video surveillance at crime hotspots and on public transit, with footage stored for at least 96 hours. It also wants more visible police, better lighting and emergency call points.

Crimes against queer people should be solved more often. The CDU wants more cameras for this. They should be at dangerous places. Also on buses and trains. Videos should be kept at least four days. There should be more police on the streets.

The program aims to shed light on unreported anti-queer offenses. Existing protective help points are to continue as needed. Areas where people feel unsafe are to get better lighting, and nightlife districts modern emergency call points. Citywide campaigns should promote civil courage, and prosecutors and courts should respond swiftly to intimidation.

The CDU wants to fight Islamism, which it classifies as an extremist political ideology, with the full force of the rule of law. It wants to abolish Berlin's day of action and remembrance against anti-Muslim hostility.

Islamism is an extreme political idea. The CDU wants to act hard against it. Berlin has a day against hostility toward Muslims. The CDU wants to end this day.

According to the program, the fight targets those who stir up hatred and violence and seek an Islamist order without gender equality or freedom of speech and religion. It also targets those who oppose the democratic order, reject Israel's right to exist or break the law. In the CDU's view, Islamism abuses religious freedom.