CDU on public safety

The CDU wants to grow the police force in North Rhine-Westphalia from around 40,000 to at least 45,000 officers. To that end, 3,000 trainees are to begin their training every year.

The CDU wants more police. Today there are about 40,000 police officers. There should be at least 45,000. For this, 3,000 young people should start training every year.

The platform calls a local police presence a precondition for security. Officers are to be equipped so they can do their work well, and the CDU wants to keep investing in police buildings. It promises attractive working conditions and backing for police, fire departments, emergency services and public order offices. As its record, it points to more than 15,000 hires from 2017 to 2022 and five consecutive budget increases.

The CDU wants to run a recruitment campaign to bring career changers and specialists into the police and make the criminal investigation service more attractive to young people. Officers should also be able to gain further qualifications through an additional IT degree.

The police need experts. The CDU wants to advertise for them. People from other jobs should join the police too. Young people should get into detective work faster. Officers should be able to learn extra computer skills.

The plan is a campaign aimed at career changers and experts. Young people with and without an immigrant background are to be recruited and placed in investigative units more quickly. As one possible model, the platform mentions so-called training units within the criminal police. An additional IT degree is meant to qualify officers for digital tasks.

The CDU wants to create a dedicated strategic search unit at each of the five highway police inspectorates and expand cooperation with neighboring European countries in fighting crime. It also wants to examine mixed investigation teams drawn from several agencies.

The CDU wants new police units on the highways. They should look for criminals there. The police should work more with neighboring countries. Criminals should not be able to hide across the border. Different agencies may investigate together.

Strategic search refers to police checks carried out without specific suspicion against an individual. The investigation teams under review would bring together staff from customs, the state and federal criminal police offices, tax investigators, and social and youth welfare offices. Security partnerships across borders are meant to keep offenders from escaping abroad. The CDU also wants to use modern methods in fighting crime.

The CDU wants security and aid organizations to appear regularly in schools, present their work and recruit young people. Alongside police and fire departments, this includes the Bundeswehr (German armed forces).

Police, firefighters and aid workers should visit schools regularly. The armed forces should come too. They show their work there. They may tell students about jobs with them.

The Bundeswehr, police, public order offices, the Technisches Hilfswerk (THW, federal disaster relief agency), fire departments and aid organizations are to take part. The visits are to happen regularly and are explicitly meant for recruitment. The platform links this to thanks and respect for the work of emergency personnel.

The CDU wants stricter punishment for attacks on emergency and police personnel and better equipment for the police. It rejects mandatory identification badges for officers. In the party's view, tougher penalties act as a deterrent.

The CDU wants tougher penalties for attacks on police officers. The police should get better equipment. Officers should not have to wear a name tag or number. The CDU says strict penalties scare off offenders.

By the end of 2025, patrol officers are to be equipped with bodycams and Tasers, along with good protective gear. Drones and robots are to help with reconnaissance and securing sites and reduce risks to officers. Spitting attacks are to be treated like resisting officers and assault, and those affected should be able to enforce their claims. The CDU argues that mandatory identification violates officers' personal rights and places them under blanket suspicion. Health management and support after stressful operations are to be improved. County police authorities are to remain under the directly elected county heads (Landräte).

The CDU wants to pursue crime on the internet with specialized officers known as cybercops. It also wants to modernize police technology and make criminal investigation more digital.

The CDU wants special police officers for the internet. They are called cybercops. They should look for crimes online. The police should also get better computers.

Cybercops are to be available in sufficient numbers and deal with hate crime, fraud, and darknet offenses; the CDU wants to review training for this purpose. The state police's cybercrime competence center is to grow, and the cybersecurity coordination office is to become the central point of contact. Investments in hardware and IT are planned. Artificial intelligence is to be used for filing reports, for example via chatbots, and against child abuse; the party considers video interviews conceivable. The Periskop early-warning system for people posing a potential risk is to be rolled out statewide. Police are to warn older people in particular about online fraud.

The CDU wants to require social networks and messaging services to provide information in cases of hate crime and other offenses. Those who stir up hatred or call for violence online should not be able to rely on anonymity, the party says.

Some people spread hate on the internet. The CDU wants social networks to give information to the police in such cases. Offenders should not be able to hide. Hate crimes should also be counted separately.

The disclosure duty is to apply to social networks, messaging services, and similar platforms. The program names hatred, racism, antisemitism, calls for violence, and serious crimes. In addition, violent hate offenses are to be recorded separately and shown in crime statistics. According to the program, this should improve prevention of antisemitism, racism, hostility toward queer people, and other forms of group-focused hostility.

The CDU wants to introduce the Online-Durchsuchung (covert remote searches of suspects' data). At the federal level, it wants to put traffic data retention on a firm legal footing and extend retention periods to six months.

Police should be allowed to secretly search the data of suspects. Phone and internet companies should store connection data for six months. The CDU says this helps police solve more crimes.

The CDU considers current retention periods for phone and internet access services too short because crime is increasingly moving online. It says traffic data retention matters above all for terrorism, organized crime, and child abuse. The party wants to achieve both through the federal government. For residential burglaries, measuring and mapping cell-tower coverage is also to be permitted as an investigative tool.

The CDU wants to keep fighting criminal clans and organized crime with heavy checks and prosecution pressure. New legal tools are to be added, such as reversing the burden of proof for assets of unclear origin.

The CDU wants to be strict with criminal clans. Police should carry out many checks. People who cannot explain where their money comes from could lose it. Young people should get help to leave clans.

Prevention and the exit program are to be expanded, especially for young clan members. Modern research systems are to become standard in investigations into money laundering, tax fraud, corruption, and drug trafficking. The CDU wants a federal law against sham vehicle ownership and wants clan members to be able to lose their driver's licenses and cars. Traffic data and telecommunications surveillance are to be used against pimping. There are to be more financial investigators, and the state criminal police office is to work more closely with the Financial Intelligence Unit at customs. The full reversal of the burden of proof is to be designed in line with the constitution.

The CDU wants to step up the fight against ATM bombings, which the program says have risen sharply. It relies on cross-border cooperation and technical safeguards in the machines.

Criminals blow up cash machines more and more often. The CDU wants to stop this. Police should work with neighboring countries. Banknotes should become useless when a machine is blown up.

Plans include an international police team in the three-country border area and joint operations centers. Search strategies and patrol duty are to be adjusted so police can work better at conspicuous locations during typical crime hours. Security authorities are to share information more effectively and stay in close contact with banks and other ATM operators. The program describes the perpetrators as risk-taking, ruthless, and internationally active.

The CDU wants to expand the staff and technology of the Verfassungsschutz (domestic intelligence agency) and revise the law governing it. Extremist structures are to be broken up through bans on associations and prosecution, complemented by more prevention.

The Verfassungsschutz watches enemies of democracy. The CDU wants to give it more staff and better technology. Extremist groups should be banned. Children and young people should get help early.

The party names threats from the right, from the left, and from Islamists. It also wants to stop extremist activity carried out in the context of public assemblies. At the federal level, a joint database on violence-oriented left-wing extremism is to be created, modeled on those for terrorism and right-wing extremism. Public money is no longer to go to enemies of the constitution, including groups that present themselves as fighting extremism. Online videos showing how to use weapons are to be deleted. An early-warning system with municipalities is planned, relying on outreach youth services and schools.

The CDU wants to expand municipalities' responsibility for public safety. Cities and towns are to get a legal basis for video surveillance in public spaces, and municipal enforcement officers are to get better working conditions.

Cities should be able to do more for safety. They should be allowed to watch public places with cameras. Municipal enforcement staff should get better working conditions. Police and city offices should work together more closely.

Video surveillance is to be regulated with careful weighing of civil liberties and data protection; it is meant to increase people's sense of safety and help solve crimes. All large cities are to develop a master plan for cleanliness and safety, supported by police expertise. Training for municipal enforcement officers is to be specialized, and uniform statewide allowances modeled on the police allowance are to be examined. Partnerships and joint offices between police and municipal authorities are to increase. Police are to be involved in urban planning to prevent crime hot spots.

After the flood disaster of July 2021, the CDU wants to reorganize disaster protection. Plans include a permanent command staff at the state level, binding needs planning in the counties, and more reliable warning systems.

In summer 2021 there was a severe flood. The CDU wants to prepare the state better for disasters. There should be more and newer sirens. The state should get a permanent crisis team.

At the state level, an operational-tactical command staff and a "Crisis Response Unit" that gathers and assesses information are to be set up. Counties and independent cities are to produce binding risk analyses, scenarios, and warning plans; control centers are to become more failure-proof. Hazard information via radio, TV, and the internet, self-help campaigns, and more equipment are planned. Spontaneous volunteers are to be integrated through fixed structures, a statewide platform, and a virtual hub for donated goods. Digital radio and critical infrastructure are to become more robust, and complex exercises mandatory. The CDU calls on the federal government for adequate civil protection funding and wants to speed up technical flood protection.

The CDU wants to equip fire services and aid organizations with more modern tools and expand volunteers' rights by law. It points out that volunteers provide more than 90 percent of fire protection in the state.

Many people volunteer with the fire service. The CDU wants to give them more rights. They should get time off work more easily. The fire service should get modern technology.

Further rules on release from work and compensation for lost earnings are planned, including for operations below the disaster threshold. A fire service app is to provide operational data and record violence against responders in a way that suffices for a criminal complaint. Allowances and trainee pay are to be reviewed and raised if needed. A recruitment campaign is to target underrepresented groups; children's and youth fire brigades will continue to be supported. Control centers are to be reviewed, along with a pilot project for a "Bunte Leitstelle" (integrated control center). Fire stations are to be modernized.

The CDU wants to expand criminal prosecution in the digital sphere and make prosecutors' offices more specialized. The central unit ZAC NRW is to become a nationally leading center against cybercrime. The platform justifies this with the large volume of damage and the professionalism of offenders.

The CDU wants to fight crime on the internet better. A special justice unit should grow for this. It is called ZAC NRW. Prosecutors should get more experts. There should also be special departments, for example for crimes against older people.

Prosecutors are to gain digital skills through training and continuing education. The ZAC NRW's special department for protecting digital infrastructure is to grow. Prosecutors' offices are to get support from IT technicians, auditors, and economists, as well as additional investigators. New criminal chambers are planned to deal with the Cum-Ex tax fraud cases. Juvenile justice centers (Häuser des Jugendrechts), departments for crimes against seniors, and local prosecutors are to be set up wherever such crime is concentrated. Information sharing between agencies is to improve, and the European Public Prosecutor's Office is to get more powers in suitable areas.

The CDU wants IP addresses to be stored for half a year so that investigators can link them to individuals in cases of serious crime. Disclosure is to happen only by court order. In the platform's view, offenders online usually cannot be identified without this link.

Every device on the internet has an IP address. It is a kind of number. The CDU wants these numbers stored for six months. In serious crimes, the police should get them. A court must allow this first.

The platform calls connection data the new fingerprints. Storage is to go only as far as the European Court of Justice permits. The data are to be passed to investigators in cases of serious crime after a judge's decision. As its reason, the CDU says offenders otherwise vanish into the anonymity of the internet.

In the fight against organized crime, the CDU wants to fully reverse the burden of proof when the origin of assets is unclear. Investigators are also to get expanded legal options for undercover work and surveillance.

The CDU wants to fight crime gangs harder. People with a lot of money of unclear origin should prove where it came from. Otherwise the state can take the money. Investigators should also get more options for surveillance.

When assets from crimes are confiscated, the owner would in the future have to prove where the assets came from. The legal rules for undercover investigators and for surveillance measures are to be adjusted. The central unit for prosecuting organized crime in North Rhine-Westphalia is to keep growing and be reinforced. The platform argues that prosecutors need time and resources to shed light on unreported crime across jurisdictional lines.

The CDU opposes legalizing illegal drugs. It cites health risks for individuals as well as consequences for families and society.

The CDU does not want to allow banned drugs. It says drugs harm people's health. They also harm families and society.

The platform rejects lifting the ban on drugs that are currently illegal. The CDU considers the health dangers and consequences too great. It also points to the effects on relatives and on society as a whole.

The CDU wants to give crime victims more support and widen the network of support facilities. Criminal proceedings are to move faster. Under the platform's principle, protecting victims takes priority over protecting offenders.

The CDU wants to help crime victims more. There should be more places that offer help. Criminal trials should go faster. For the CDU, victims matter more than offenders.

The platform announces new standards for victim protection and wants counseling centers to become more qualified and specialized. It wants to examine whether assets confiscated from criminals can go into a victim support fund. It will also examine appointing a victim's lawyer in domestic violence cases. Childhood Houses, where affected children are cared for, are to be set up step by step across the state.

The CDU wants to build two new prisons to ensure enough prison places. At the same time, inmates are to get more support during and after their sentence so they can live crime-free afterward.

The CDU wants to build two new prisons. This should make sure there are enough places. Prisoners should get support while in prison. After prison, they should get help with housing and work.

Besides more prison places, the platform mentions adequate staffing and modernized facilities. Intensified psychiatric treatment for inmates with mental health issues is to continue. To maintain family contact, more supervised living groups and pilot projects for family houses based on the Danish model are planned. Transition management is to grow significantly, focusing on housing and the job market, along with transitional homes for released inmates without a fixed address. Cooperation with municipalities on release preparation is to improve, and the EVALIS project is to evaluate the prison system scientifically.

The CDU wants to make it easier to identify and prosecute child abusers online. It calls for registration with a German mobile number for services with chat functions and a duty for platforms to check user content for abuse material and report it. According to the platform, child protection should take priority over data protection.

The CDU wants to find offenders online more easily. People who chat in apps or games should sign up with a German cell phone number. Platforms should check content for images of abuse. They should report what they find to investigators. For the CDU, protecting children matters more than data privacy.

The registration requirement is to apply nationwide to websites, apps, and games with chat so that police can clearly identify offenders. The duty for platforms to check and report is to be compatible with European law. All agencies involved should be allowed to share relevant information with each other. Investigators are to get the latest technology, with artificial intelligence helping to handle large volumes of data. The CDU also calls for more staff and faster proceedings, especially in family courts, and earlier cooperation between youth welfare offices and family courts.

The CDU wants to strengthen European foreign and security policy as a whole. Police and courts in the member states are to cooperate more closely by digital means, and Europol is to be expanded.

The CDU wants more security in Europe. Police and courts in EU countries should work together better digitally. Europol is the EU's police agency. The state will keep sending officers there.

North Rhine-Westphalia is to keep sending officers to Europol. The CDU favors a larger information system for the agency and closer cooperation between Europol and companies. Digitalization of cooperation between member states and EU agencies is to be stepped up. The platform argues that security is the foundation of freedom.