CDU on public safety

The CDU wants to give people holding local offices and council seats stronger protection against hate and attacks. Contact points and counseling services are to be expanded, and online crimes are to be prosecuted consistently. The platform points to 180 attacks and crimes against this group in 2019.

Mayors and local council members often face hate and attacks. The CDU wants to protect them better. There will be more places that help and give advice. Crimes on the internet will be prosecuted.

The victim counseling service at the State Criminal Police Office is to expand what it offers. Central offices against hate crime, modeled on the one at the Göttingen public prosecutor's office, are to be extended to the counties and independent cities. Prevention and counseling are to be stepped up. The CDU wants to expand pilot projects protecting officials who work in the field.

The CDU wants to combat organized crime and so-called clan crime with coordinated checks by several authorities and strict punishment of even minor offenses. In its view, this kind of crime undermines trust in the rule of law.

The CDU wants to be tough on criminal gangs. Several authorities should carry out checks together. Even small offenses should be punished. The state should take away money from crimes. People who want to leave a gang should get help.

Prosecutors, tax investigators, police, and trade inspectors are to carry out regular joint checks, modeled on the "Räderwerk" project in the Heidekreis district. Administrative offenses are to be punished across the board, which the program calls a policy of a thousand pinpricks. Security partnerships based on the Osnabrück model, led by prosecutors, are to be set up statewide. A new special unit is to help local prosecutors confiscate criminal assets. An exit program for members of criminal structures is also planned.

The CDU wants to change the state's data protection and police laws so that authorities can share data comprehensively. More information is also to flow between the German states and with Europol; in the party's view, data protection must not stand in the way.

Authorities should be allowed to share more data with each other. The CDU wants to change laws for this. Police, the domestic intelligence service, and immigration offices should exchange data electronically. Computer programs should analyze the data.

A legal basis is planned for permanent electronic exchange among the police state security division, the state criminal police office, the domestic intelligence service, patrol units, and local immigration and public order offices. Automated software for comprehensive data analysis is also to be permitted by law. Cooperation with European partners and Europol is to be stepped up, both in querying and in feeding databases. Traffic and telecommunications data are to be used consistently to fight crime.

The CDU wants fast-track criminal proceedings to be used more often in simple cases and wants greater use of short "warning-shot" detention for young offenders. The aim is constant pressure on offenders and stopping criminal careers early.

Simple criminal cases should go to court faster. Young offenders should more often spend a short time in detention. This should keep them from further crimes. There should be more "houses of juvenile justice." There, police, courts, and youth services work together.

In fast-track proceedings before local courts, waiting periods and written summonses are dropped and charges can be brought orally. Warning-shot detention of up to four weeks can be imposed alongside a suspended juvenile sentence. The five existing "Häuser des Jugendrechts" (houses of juvenile justice) are to keep their funding, and more locations are to be added until the whole state is covered. The CDU wants to preserve the network of local courts close to where people live.

The CDU wants more specialized investigators to prosecute crimes by extremists, online hate crime, and child pornography. Attacks on emergency workers and local politicians, as well as fraud targeting older people, are also to be pursued specifically.

The CDU wants to prosecute extremists strictly. Extremists reject democracy. Hate on the internet should also be prosecuted. Investigators against child pornography should get more staff and technology. Special teams should solve fraud against old people.

The central office against online hate crime is to be strengthened and given online investigators. The prosecutors' central office against child pornography is to get more staff and technology. The CDU wants to cut off money flowing from extremist organizations to mosque associations. Victims of sexual offenses should in the future have to testify only once. Prosecutors' offices are to get special units for crimes such as scams targeting seniors, and the specialized prosecution office for burglary is to be strengthened.

The CDU wants to fill vacant posts at courts, prosecutors' offices, and prisons and to adjust pay. All existing court locations are to be kept so that the judiciary stays within easy reach in rural areas too.

Courts and prosecutors should get more staff. Prisons should get more staff too. Pay should get better. All courts in the state should stay where they are.

Rulings are to be issued within a reasonable time, and minor offenses are to be prosecuted effectively as well. The allowance for prison staff is to match that of police officers, and pay in the judiciary and prison service is to become competitive. The recruitment campaign "Stark für die Gerechtigkeit" is to be extended to prison officers. Lay judges are to be released from work for the full duration of their service, including under flexible working arrangements.

The CDU wants daily entrance checks at all courts and more video surveillance in courts and prisons. In its view, courts and prosecutors' offices must be safe places at all times.

All courts should have checks at the entrance every day. Courts and prisons should get more cameras. This should protect the staff. A specially secured court building should be built in Celle.

Entrance checks are to take place statewide and without gaps, and at prosecutors' offices where needed. So-called intelligent video surveillance is also to be used more. Together with the federal government, the CDU wants to build a high-security court building in Celle. Judges and prosecutors are to receive systematic support in especially stressful situations and areas of law.

The CDU wants to maintain enough prison places and build a new prison if needed. Prevention and deradicalization work in prisons is to be expanded, and the effect of rehabilitation measures is to be reviewed using reoffending rates.

There should be enough places in prisons. If needed, the CDU wants to build a new prison. Programs against radicalization should grow. The CDU wants to check whether help for prisoners works. Then it wants to adjust the law.

According to the CDU, a possible new prison should be modern and meet high security requirements. Voluntary services that help offenders are to receive more support. The rehabilitation measures expanded in recent years, which the program describes as costly, are to be evaluated in a comparison across states. Depending on the results, the prison law is to be amended.

The CDU wants bodycams to be used more often and to allow their use inside homes. Patrol cars are to get dashcams, and the police are to be better equipped and protected overall.

Police officers should wear cameras on their bodies more often. They should also be allowed to film inside homes. All patrol cars should get a camera. The police should get better equipment. Spitting at police officers should be punished more harshly.

Officers are to receive information about the expected situation on tablets, for which the CDU wants to create the data protection basis. Spitting attacks are to be treated under criminal law like assault and resisting officers. New armored vehicles for terrorist situations are to be stationed so that they can reach any place in the state within an hour. A higher clothing budget, a different way of carrying the service weapon, more psychological support, and shorter delivery times from the logistics center are also planned. Staff units and working groups are to be trimmed so that more police are present across the state.

The CDU wants to raise the police allowance to 200 euros, increase other allowances, and speed up promotions. At least 1,600 places at the police academy are meant to keep staffing levels stable.

Police officers should get more money. The police allowance should rise to 200 euros. Officers should be promoted faster. The police academy should have at least 1,600 places. This way the police should have enough new recruits.

The police allowance is to rise with prices and, as at the federal level, count toward pensions. A five-year program to upgrade posts, agreed with staff councils and unions, is meant to cut the wait for a first promotion to eight years. The allowance for work at unsocial hours is to go up, and hardship allowances are planned for especially stressful areas such as crime scene teams. Trainees are to be hired on September 1 and additionally on March 1. Campaigns are to attract career changers.

The CDU wants to dissolve the separate complaints office for the police and replace it with one for the entire state administration. It thereby opposes what it calls a culture of mistrust toward the police.

Today there is a separate complaints office for the police. The CDU no longer wants this office in that form. There should be one complaints office for all state agencies. People should also be able to report things there without giving their name.

The new office is to take complaints about all state authorities. Anonymous reports are also to be possible there. The program links this step to the statement that the police deserve backing and appreciation.

The CDU wants to clear the renovation backlog in police buildings with an investment push, relying more on private partners and modular construction. Police stations in rural areas are to be kept.

Many police buildings are old. The CDU wants to repair them or build new ones. Private companies should take part more often. Police stations in the countryside should stay. The police should get better computer technology.

Stations in great need of repair are to be fully renovated or, where it makes economic sense, rebuilt, more often through public-private partnerships. After a tender, an architecture firm is to design standard stations that are then built in modular form. Police training facilities are also to be renovated. The CDU wants to invest in police IT and, in the medium term, move data processing to a cloud run by an IT service provider.

The CDU wants to equip the police with better digital tools and test smart video surveillance in pilot projects, especially in soccer stadiums. Officers would also patrol the internet without needing a specific reason.

The CDU wants to give the police more digital tools. Cameras with smart software would be tested, for example in soccer stadiums. Officers would also patrol the internet. The police would get more IT experts.

The program calls for a separate career track for specialists, mainly IT staff, so the police can compete with private employers. So-called cybercops would patrol online without a specific trigger, prevent crimes and answer questions about cybersecurity. Software for police work would more often be bought from certified companies, with a focus on artificial intelligence and big-data analysis. The plan also includes electronic case files and a legal basis plus insurance coverage for officers using cell phones on duty.

The CDU wants to reorganize the police: fewer staff units, more specialized units and a more visible presence across the state. It cites internet crime, cyberattacks, clan crime and child abuse as reasons.

The CDU wants to reorganize the police. There would be more special units, for example against crime on the internet. The police should be visible everywhere in the state. Police administration would get smaller.

Specialized units would work more closely with the matching departments of the public prosecutors; for cybercrime, the CDU aims to house both in one building with shared IT staff. Officer positions would be distributed with regional presence in mind, non-civil-servant employees would relieve officers, and response times would be shortened. The plan also includes a stronger police psychological service and a sixth evidence and arrest unit (BFE). In cities with high child and youth crime, educators would join police teams on a trial basis.

The CDU wants to further strengthen municipal public order offices and help cities and towns expand video surveillance. Drug dealing in public places is to be stopped and punished.

The CDU wants to strengthen the public order offices of cities and towns. Towns should be able to put up more cameras. The CDU wants to stop drug dealing at schools and public squares. Order officers would use the police radio network.

The program points to the reform of the state police and public order law, which already expanded the powers of order offices, and wants to continue on that path. The legal basis for video surveillance would be tightened further. Drug dealing is to be prevented above all in public squares, schools, kindergartens and sports halls. Municipal order officers would be connected to the authorities' radio network to work better with the police.

The CDU wants to reorganize the state's cyber defense and create a dedicated state office against online and cyber crime. It cites the shift of crime into the digital sphere and the threat from Russian hacker units.

The CDU wants to protect Lower Saxony better against attacks from the internet. A new state office would be created for this. A council of experts would advise the government. The CDU sees a special danger from hackers from Russia.

Responsibility for protecting IT networks would be pooled in the new state office, which would act as a partner to the responsible federal agency. A cybersecurity council with representatives of the security agencies, state IT and critical infrastructure would advise the state government and draft a protection plan for digital infrastructure. State IT would get additional sensors and anomaly detection systems. The state criminal police office (Landeskriminalamt) would become the central body for internet crime, and investigative units would get IT experts.

The CDU wants a fundamental overhaul of the law on the Verfassungsschutz (domestic intelligence service): it would be allowed, among other things, to surveil homes and search computers remotely, and data protection rules the party considers unnecessary would be dropped. Monitoring of left-wing extremism would be raised to the level of the other areas.

The CDU wants to give the Verfassungsschutz more powers. The Verfassungsschutz is the state's domestic intelligence service. It would be allowed to monitor homes and secretly search computers. Some data protection rules would be dropped. It would watch left-wing extremism as closely as other extremism.

The reform is meant to improve information sharing among security agencies and deepen cooperation with the police. The joint information and analysis center with the state criminal police office would grow, and the CDU would push for a shared database on violence-oriented left-wing extremism. For staff in security-sensitive parts of the administration, a check with the intelligence service would become standard. The plan also includes higher, pension-eligible security allowances, a training concept and swift completion of the agency's new building. The CDU cites a growing threat from extremism of all kinds.

The CDU wants to give disaster and civil protection considerably more money and equipment. It points to heavy rain and extreme weather and to the work of professional and volunteer responders.

The CDU wants to spend more money on disaster protection. There would be more vehicles and reserve equipment. Emergency drills would take place regularly. Volunteers should get time off work more easily.

Funding for emergency vehicles would rise permanently, and central warehouses would hold reserves of technology and equipment. The state would build its own units with special vehicles and write regular drills into law. Uniform procurement rules, coordinated with other states, and pooled tenders are meant to cut costs. For volunteers, leave from work and educational leave would be expanded in talks with employers. A legal basis would also settle who ensures outpatient emergency care in the integrated emergency centers planned by the federal government.

The CDU wants to bring the state's sirens back into service and send warnings to cell phones via cell broadcast. Operators of critical infrastructure would be required to prepare for disasters and would be monitored.

The CDU wants to warn people faster when there is danger. Sirens would work again. Warnings would also come straight to cell phones. Important operators such as power or water suppliers must make emergency plans.

Cell broadcast is a technology that sends alerts to all cell phones within a radio cell. Under the program, companies and organizations in critical infrastructure would have to draw up emergency plans, especially for cyberattacks. A monitoring system would check compliance. In addition, disaster protection authorities and police directorates would use the same software for their plans.

The CDU wants to make volunteering in the fire service more attractive, including through a dedicated state firefighter pension. The fire protection law would be fundamentally reformed and funding for fire departments broadened.

The CDU wants to strengthen the volunteer fire service. Volunteers would get a special firefighter pension. The state would give more money for training and fire stations. The CDU wants to protect firefighters better against violence on duty.

The state would create the legal and financial framework for the firefighter pension by the end of 2025. The legal reform would, among other things, expand leave from work for youth fire brigades and officeholders. The training sites of the state office for fire and disaster protection in Celle-Scheuen and Loy would be expanded through an investment budget and given instructor positions. The state's share of fire service funding would be made permanent and raised as the budget allows; municipalities would get a funding program and a modular building system for fire stations. Also planned are a statewide service ID, a reporting system for attacks during operations, and better health and accident coverage for volunteers.

The CDU wants more intensive support for crime victims and puts victim protection ahead of protecting offenders. Victims of sexual offenses would get a mandatory legal counsel, and support services for domestic and sexualized violence would grow.

The CDU wants to help crime victims better. Victims of sexual offenses would always get a lawyer. Counseling centers and women's shelters would get secure funding. Witnesses should be able to testify without fear.

The "ProBeweis" network for people affected by domestic and sexualized violence would be funded and expanded; for women's shelters, hotlines and counseling centers, the CDU seeks a uniform nationwide rule with secure funding. First interviews of victims of sexual offenses would be video-recorded, and the protection-from-violence law would be extended to cover sexual self-determination. Counseling centers for victims of extremist violence would be made permanent, and cooperation with groups such as Weißer Ring would be deepened. At the federal level, the CDU wants stronger protection of witnesses' addresses. Victims would also be able to enforce civil claims faster, and guardianship associations would get more money.

The CDU wants to expand prevention work against extremism of every kind. Prevention councils would be developed further, justice staff trained, and Islamism prevention made more effective.

The CDU wants to stop extremism early. The prevention councils in the state would be improved. Justice staff would learn more about extremist groups. Children in sports clubs would also be better protected from abuse.

The prevention unit set up in the state justice ministry would be strengthened further. Justice staff would receive training on extremist scenes, and local offices would be able to call on officers with knowledge of those scenes. Municipalities would get money for their prevention work, and the state's competence center for Islamism prevention would be made more effective. Abuse prevention for children in settings such as sports clubs would also be strengthened.

The CDU wants to set up local security partnerships that work on preventing extremism and on deradicalization. They are meant to address right-wing and left-wing extremism, antisemitism and Islamism.

The CDU wants local partnerships for security. They should stop extremism early. Extremism means people reject democracy. Hate against local politicians should also be a topic.

The partnerships are to work at the local level and combine prevention with deradicalization. The program names right-wing extremism, left-wing extremism, antisemitism and Islamism. Prevention work is to focus in particular on hate and incitement directed at local politicians.

The CDU wants to give Jewish institutions special protection and help pay for security measures. Against antisemitism it relies on education and prevention. It justifies this with historical responsibility toward Jewish life.

The CDU wants to give Jewish institutions special protection. The state should pay money for their safety. The CDU wants to teach people about hatred of Jews. It wants to stand against attacks on Jews.

Protection is to be arranged in consultation with the Jewish communities. The party wants to firmly counter antisemitic tendencies and attacks, which the program says are increasing. The CDU sees remembrance of the Shoah as a lasting obligation to act against every form of antisemitism.