Grüne on public safety

The Greens want stadiums to remain safe, inclusive places and rely on prevention to get there. Clubs and associations are to help pay for this work, and games are to be classified as high-risk according to clear criteria.

There should be no violence in stadiums. So the Greens want more work with fans. The soccer associations should help pay for it. Some games count as very risky. There should be clear rules for that.

Fan outreach, awareness services, and conflict training are to be expanded so that violence and discrimination do not occur in stadiums. Organizers, clubs, and associations, above all the DFL and DFB, are to support preventive structures with both organization and money. Whether a game counts as high-risk is to follow transparent, verifiable criteria. For the extra security costs of such games, the party wants to push at the federal level for alternative funding models.

The Greens want the BVG and the S-Bahn to no longer be required to file criminal complaints for riding without a ticket, as long as the federal government has not decriminalized it. The fine would remain. The platform expects this to ease the burden on the courts and to be fairer socially.

Some people ride without a ticket. Today this can be a crime. The Greens want this: the BVG and the S-Bahn no longer have to report it to the police. People still pay a fine. This should take work off the courts and save prison costs.

The platform points to the city of Potsdam as a model. The rule is meant to apply until fare evasion is decriminalized at the federal level. The Greens give three reasons: less work for the justice system, savings on prison costs, and greater social fairness.

The Greens want to introduce uniform police procedures for cases of gender-based and domestic violence, modeled on Spain. They also support electronic ankle monitors and want mandatory training for all contact points that deal with victims.

The Greens want to protect women better from violence. The police should follow fixed rules in such cases. Spain is the model for this. Offenders could have to wear an electronic ankle monitor. This is a device on the leg that reports the location. Hospital staff should also get training.

The platform describes gender-based violence as a problem for society as a whole, and says fighting it must not be left to those affected. Protective measures are to be ordered according to fixed rules rather than depending on how individual officers assess the risk. With the electronic ankle monitor, the affected person should be able to receive alerts. Hospital staff, especially in emergency rooms, are to be trained to spot signs of violence early and offer help. The Greens also welcome that the Senate is extending removal orders from the home to four weeks, writing no-contact and stay-away orders into law, and setting up a victims' advisory board and case conferences.

The Greens want to expand efforts to prevent right-wing extremism, especially among children and young people and online. The platform argues that far-right groups are increasingly recruiting young people.

The Greens want to do more against right-wing extremism. They want to start early, mostly with young people. Schools should get help with this. There should also be more offers online.

The state program against right-wing extremism, racism and antisemitism is to grow, as is the Landeskommission gegen Gewalt (state commission against violence). The education administration is to work with civil society experts to support schools and other educational institutions. Prevention projects in schools are to get permanent funding, and dealing with right-wing extremism is to become a required part of training for teachers and childcare workers, along with regular continuing education. Digital offers such as digital streetwork and media literacy training are to be expanded. Platforms like Instagram and TikTok are expected to delete such content. A security summit of the state and the boroughs is to address far-right youth violence.

The Greens want stronger protection and counseling for people affected by far-right violence. Their cases are to be recorded as politically motivated crimes and solved quickly. The platform points to a sharp rise in such offenses.

Some people are threatened or attacked by right-wing extremists. The Greens want to protect these people better. There should be more counseling for them. The police should solve their cases quickly.

The plan includes more information and counseling services and easier blocks on address disclosure in the residents' register. Monitoring structures and registry offices that document incidents are to be well funded. Victim counseling centers and civil society groups that are themselves attacked or defamed are to be strengthened. Police and the justice system are to keep victims openly informed about investigative steps and their options, and to be trained for this.

The Greens want far-right crimes punished faster and more consistently, including minor offenses. Right-wing extremists, Reichsbürger (people who reject the German state) and followers of conspiracy ideologies are to lose their weapons. The public sector is also to be protected from right-wing extremists.

The Greens want to prosecute far-right crimes strictly. This also applies to small offenses. Right-wing extremists should no longer have weapons. Enemies of the constitution should not work for the state.

The Staatsschutz (police unit for politically motivated crime) is to be strengthened, prosecutors are to get regular training, and open arrest warrants against far-right offenders are to be enforced. Against online hate, a central reporting office for digital violence is to be set up as a competence center that takes reports and coordinates with law enforcement. In the public sector, especially in security-sensitive areas, internal reporting and complaint channels are to be expanded. Disciplinary proceedings against enemies of the constitution in public service are to be carried out consistently.

The Greens want criminal cases against users to be dropped as a rule when the amount is within clearly defined limits for personal use. They also back pilot projects in which drugs are dispensed under controlled conditions. Police and courts are to focus their resources on organized crime instead.

People with a small amount of drugs for themselves should usually not be punished. The amount should be clearly set. The Greens also want to test projects that hand out drugs in a controlled way. Police should focus more on large criminal gangs.

The basis is the leeway that narcotics law already gives the states. Controlled dispensing in pilot projects follows demands from addiction services and is meant to keep those affected from depending on the black market. The stated aim of the drug policy is to take away the basis of illegal markets. The platform describes the approach as help instead of punishment, guided by scientific evidence.

The Greens want to permanently secure youth social work and youth cultural programs in disadvantaged neighborhoods, especially those aimed at young men. The platform treats prevention as the most effective way to fight crime and names poverty, lack of prospects and lack of participation as its main causes.

The Greens want to keep programs for young people running. This matters most in poor neighborhoods. Young men in particular should find help there. The party says prevention is the best protection against crime.

The programs are to be secured in neighborhoods marked by child poverty, lack of participation and poor prospects. Young people in difficult situations are to get support in developing their own plans for the future. The platform calls social providers and initiatives a pillar of a safe city and wants to support them. Domestic security policy is to follow scientific findings and address the causes of crime.

The Greens want to spread community policing throughout Berlin. More local contact officers and visible presence are meant to raise trust in the police and people's sense of safety. Case conferences are planned for people in mental health crises.

The police should be closer to people. There should be more regular contact officers in each neighborhood. More officers should patrol by bike. People with mental illness should get special help.

The plan includes more neighborhood contact officers, more bicycle patrols, and presence at busy places and hotspots, including mobile stations and neighborhood walkers. Education, counseling and help are to rank equally with structured cooperation with local actors. People who repeatedly come into contact with police during mental health crises are to get measures tailored to their case. Case conferences with all institutions involved and medical experts are meant to identify needs early and secure the transfer into the support system.

The Greens want to prioritize renovating police and fire service buildings and vehicles and to guarantee basic equipment for emergency personnel. Police training is also to become more attractive and working conditions better, so the services have enough staff despite demographic change.

The Greens want to renew police and fire service buildings and vehicles. Emergency workers should have good protective gear and enough supplies. Work should fit better with family life. Workers who are attacked on duty should get more help.

The fire and rescue service academy is to be completed, and a new building for the forensic science institute is to be set in motion to speed up investigations. Drinking water dispensers in service buildings, energy-efficient renovation and renewable energy, including for the vehicle fleet, are to become standard. There are to be no cuts to protective gear, equipment or consumables. Family-friendly working time models are meant to improve working conditions. For personnel attacked on duty, the platform wants to strengthen psychosocial emergency care and pay more attention to psychological effects.

The Greens want to make security agencies more diverse and counter discrimination, racism and sexism within them. Cases of police violence are to be investigated and addressed. Antifeminism is to become a distinct category in the work of the security agencies.

The Greens want more diversity in the police and fire service. The agencies should deal openly with mistakes. They should act against racism and sexism. Staff should learn more about democracy.

Education on democracy, a critical view of discrimination, and communication skills are to get more room in training, university studies and continuing education. The platform classifies antifeminism as hostile to the constitution and plans mandatory training on it in administration, education and the justice system. The recommendations of the Berlin police study are to be implemented, and supervision, post-operation debriefing and resilience programs expanded. A separate study on structures and working methods is planned for the fire and rescue service. Police violence and arbitrary conduct are to be addressed because, in the platform's view, they harm both those affected and officers who act properly.

The Greens want to expand independent oversight of the police. The Bürger- und Polizeibeauftragter (citizens' and police commissioner) is to be able to effectively review every case brought to him. The platform regards the creation of this office as the right step toward greater trust in government action.

Berlin has a commissioner for citizens and the police. He looks into complaints about the police. Police officers can also turn to him. The Greens want him to be able to check every case properly.

The office is independent and open both to people affected by police measures and to police officers themselves. The Greens want to improve oversight so that the commissioner can actually investigate every matter reported to him. According to the platform, the goal is greater trust in the actions of the state.

The Greens want to introduce a regular Berlin security report that examines the causes of crime as well as the number of offenses. On that basis, the police are to deploy their resources where they have the greatest effect. The district Ordnungsämter (public order offices) are to be strengthened to relieve the police.

The Greens want a new report on safety in Berlin. The report should also show the causes of crime. The police should then work where it helps most. The public order offices should handle more tasks themselves.

The report is to supplement the police crime statistics. Police resources are to be targeted at current trends in violent crime, property crime and financial crime. The district public order offices should be able to carry out their own duties in averting dangers so that the police do not regularly have to step in. Where harm to society is greatest, the platform calls for strong enforcement pressure, for example against organized crime.

The Greens reject surveillance without specific cause, including biometric facial recognition, blanket data retention and citywide video surveillance. The platform also rejects analysis software from Palantir and a large police database. Instead, targeted investigative tools and the police's IT forensics are to be strengthened.

The Greens oppose surveillance without a reason. They do not want automatic face recognition. Cameras should only be used in a few important places. The police should not use software from the company Palantir. Instead, the police should get better tech experts.

If the federal government reintroduces data retention, the party intends to vote against it in the Bundesrat. The platform regards remote searches of devices and interception of encrypted communications at the source as very deep intrusions into fundamental rights and criticizes keeping security vulnerabilities open. Video surveillance is to be expanded only where it helps protect critical infrastructure. Software used by security agencies must ensure data protection and purpose limitation and have inspectable source code. Also planned are statistics on the use of surveillance measures and the return of the cell-site transparency system that lets affected people obtain information.

The Greens want to evaluate Berlin's police law, the ASOG, and in doing so strengthen civil rights and parliamentary oversight. They reject police stops without cause because, in the platform's view, they achieve little and encourage racial profiling. A digital stop receipt is to record the reason for each check.

The Greens want to review Berlin's police law. The police should not stop people without a reason. Anyone who is stopped should get a digital receipt. It states the reason for the stop. The party wants to review weapon-ban zones and remove some.

The evaluation of the ASOG includes a review of police tasks intended to reduce the force's workload. The existing designated high-crime locations and knife and weapon ban zones are to be checked for their usefulness and lifted again where needed. The findings of the body camera study are to be implemented and use of the cameras limited to the police. The body camera would have to be switched on at the request of the person concerned or when direct force is used, in order to secure evidence.

The Greens reject stricter rules in Berlin's Versammlungsfreiheitsgesetz (freedom of assembly law). They argue that violence and hate at demonstrations are already not covered by the fundamental right. According to the platform, the police should rely on de-escalation at assemblies.

The Greens do not want to make the law on demonstrations stricter. Violence and hate are already banned there today. The police should act calmly at demonstrations. Police mistakes should be investigated.

The platform condemns violence, dehumanizing and antisemitic statements, and the exploitation of demonstrations by extremist actors. At the same time, it considers criticism of police measures it sees as excessive to be legitimate, such as blanket language bans, violence against demonstrators and pain compliance holds on peaceful participants. It accuses the current city government of a repressive course that leads to more escalation. Police misconduct is to be investigated and addressed, also for the sake of the force's public image.

The Greens want an overall strategy against right-wing extremism and more deradicalization and counseling work. Outstanding arrest warrants against extremists are to be enforced, and anti-constitutional associations banned where the law allows. Investigations into attacks on the power grid are to be stepped up.

The Greens want to do more against right-wing extremism. Police should arrest wanted extremists. Dangerous groups should be banned when the law allows it. There should be more counseling to help people leave extremist circles. Attacks on the power grid should be solved.

The program calls attacks on supply systems highly criminal and unjustifiable. It says investigations into attacks by the so-called Vulkangruppen on the power grid have produced no results for 15 years and should be concentrated and reinforced, with more pressure in the manhunt. Alongside an overall strategy against right-wing extremism, it wants to expand deradicalization, counseling centers against conspiracy ideologies and hate crime, and targeted work with young people and men. Bans on associations are to be used to break up organized right-wing extremist networks.

The Greens want right-wing crimes to be examined for political motives from the very start. Agencies are to cooperate better, with clear responsibilities and organized knowledge transfer. The background is the series of right-wing attacks in Neukölln, which the program says was not pursued consistently.

For years there were right-wing attacks in Neukölln. The Greens say the authorities did not investigate well enough. That should not happen again. Agencies should work together better. Even with small crimes, they should check for a political motive.

The program points to the Berlin parliament's committee of inquiry, which it says found shortcomings at the security agencies: information was not pooled and victims were not taken seriously. Only after the Generalstaatsanwaltschaft (chief public prosecutor's office) took over were perpetrators charged and convicted. The Greens call for cooperation among the units involved, clear responsibilities and structured knowledge transfer, especially where knowledge of the scene is needed. They declare solidarity with those affected.

The Greens want to split the Verfassungsschutz (domestic intelligence service) into two pillars: an independent institute working from public sources and an intelligence service clearly separated from police work. An oversight law is to strengthen parliament's rights. The party rejects routine intelligence checks on applicants for public service jobs.

The Verfassungsschutz is a domestic intelligence service. The Greens want to rebuild it. An independent institute should study public information. The intelligence service should focus on serious threats. Parliament should have more control over it. People applying for government jobs should not be checked automatically.

The program acknowledges the service's successes in preventing attacks and uncovering espionage, but accuses it of failures, such as in the NSU case, with informants and around the Breitscheidplatz attack. The intelligence pillar is to focus on early detection of crimes endangering the state, disinformation, espionage and terrorism. After an independent scientific evaluation, tasks, priorities and resources are to be readjusted. A Verfassungsschutz oversight law is to improve parliament's control and information rights. Routine checks on applicants, civil servants outside security-sensitive areas and trainees are rejected.

The Greens call for a citywide strategy linking security and social policy. It combines social measures, better quality of public spaces and police presence. The program argues that social problems can only be solved by social means.

The Greens want a plan for places with many problems. There should be more social help there. Public squares should be cleaner and nicer. Police should be easy to approach. The Greens say police alone cannot solve social problems.

The party wants to support social service providers and initiatives, which it sees as a key pillar of a safe city. Districts are to get help in reviving and redesigning public spaces together with neighbors through events, urban design measures and more cleanliness. Police measures and social work on the ground are to complement each other. Police are to be more approachable for residents and business owners, and agencies, police and local actors are to coordinate more closely.

The Greens want to prioritize the fight against organized crime and pool resources. Investigators are to follow the money and confiscate illegally acquired assets, including real estate. A real estate register is to reveal the actual beneficial owners.

The Greens want to do more against criminal gangs. Investigators should follow the gangs' money. The state should take away illegal money and buildings. A register should show who really owns a building. Police should not treat anyone unfairly because of their origin.

The state criminal police office and prosecutors are to be enabled to focus more on investigating structures so that those at the top are caught. For the "follow the money" approach, links to tax offices, tax investigators, trade supervision and customs are planned. Asset confiscation is to be backed by qualified staff able to trace criminal networks. Trade supervision is to be fundamentally reformed, with a clear division of tasks between the state and district public order offices. The program rejects discriminatory practices, debates about origin and what the party sees as symbolic joint raids.

The Greens want to create a bike theft investigation unit at the state criminal police office with responsibility for all of Berlin. Places with many thefts are to see far more targeted operations. The program points to about 25,000 reported cases a year and a clearance rate below five percent.

About 25,000 bikes are stolen in Berlin every year. Police solve very few cases. The Greens want a special police unit against bike theft. It should work for the whole city. Places with many thefts should get more police operations.

The unit is also meant to act against organized gangs. Bike theft hotspots are to get special attention. According to the program, bike thefts account for more than ten percent of all thefts in Berlin, while fewer than five percent are consistently solved.

The Greens want to better equip security agencies to fight cybercrime, digital espionage and online hate crime. They also plan a strategy against disinformation, a cybersecurity strategy for the Berlin government and a Berlin IT security law. Digital crime is not to be treated as secondary.

Crime also happens online. The Greens want police and courts to fight it better. There should be a plan against false news. A new law should set firm rules for safe computer systems in Berlin. Big internet companies should face stricter control.

Big tech companies are to be regulated more strictly by enforcing the EU's Digital Services Act, to protect users from hate and disinformation. The program sees manipulated content, especially via artificial intelligence, as a danger to democracy and elections; police and the judiciary are to be trained on AI-related legal violations. The cybersecurity strategy is to be developed with business and civil society. Minimum requirements and clear responsibilities are planned for the administration and critical infrastructure. The Federal Office for Information Security is to become a central hub between federal and state levels.

The Greens want to revise the disaster protection law, coordinate crisis teams centrally and systematically secure critical infrastructure. A digital platform is to bring in volunteer helpers. The program cites two attacks on the power grid and what it sees as unclear responsibilities.

Berlin should be better prepared for crises. These include power outages, heat, heavy rain and cyberattacks. The Greens want to update the disaster protection law. It should be clear who is in charge in a crisis. A website should bring volunteer helpers together.

The plans include clear responsibilities, risk analyses, emergency plans and shared standards for state and district administrations, along with sufficient staff and funding. For the power grid, the program calls for an overall concept of protection, precaution and prepared emergency repair, plus a decentralized grid structure. In large-scale situations, measures are to be centrally coordinated early on. Federal money from the special funds for civil defense and disaster protection should be usable in Berlin. A digital helper platform and reliable communication channels are meant to include spontaneous volunteers as well.

The Greens want to push at the federal level so that no one is jailed for being unable to pay a fine. Petty offenses such as riding public transit without a ticket would no longer be crimes. The platform argues that prosecuting such acts burdens the justice system and that poverty must not lead to prison.

Some people cannot pay their fine. Today they have to go to prison instead. The Greens want to end this. Riding without a ticket should no longer be a crime. The Greens say that poor people need help, not prison.

The Ersatzfreiheitsstrafe is the prison term that replaces an unpaid fine. The Greens want to press at the federal level for abolishing it and for removing minor offenses from the criminal code. In Berlin, projects that let convicted people work off their fines are to be strengthened. The platform points out that homeless people are often affected and need support to avoid being locked up.

The Greens want to put the reintegration of prisoners back at the center of the prison system and expand open prisons. In the platform's view, only rehabilitation protects society from crime in the long run. Loss of liberty is said to be punishment enough, and prison conditions should be up to date.

Prisoners should be able to live without crime after prison. So the Greens want more open prisons. In an open prison, prisoners have more freedom. Prisoners should also get more education and support. The Greens say this protects society best.

Prisoners are to receive tailored treatment and education programs and better support around their release. All responsible agencies are to share in reintegration, nonprofit providers are to be more involved, and children of prisoners are to get more attention. The project "Resozialisierung durch Digitalisierung" (rehabilitation through digitalization) is to continue so that prisoners for whom it is justifiable can use the internet and email. The general prison service is to become more attractive and flexible. Prison buildings are to be modernized.