Grüne on public safety

The Greens want public spaces to be safe for everyone. Police, fire services and emergency medical services should have enough personnel and be able to respond quickly. Disaster response should also work reliably when it is needed.

The Greens want safe streets and squares for everyone. Police, fire services and ambulance services should have enough staff. They should arrive quickly when people need them. Disaster response should also work well.

According to the program, every person should be able to rely on help being nearby and ready. This is explicitly meant to apply to all members of society. Disaster response should work without failure when needed. The Greens justify this by saying people need security in order to cope with change.

The Greens want to prepare Bremen better for crises such as floods or cyberattacks. A risk analysis is to show where action is needed, and fallback levels are to be defined for critical infrastructure.

The Greens want Bremen to be better prepared for emergencies. These include floods and attacks on computer systems. A study should show where Bremen is weak. Important facilities should keep working in an emergency.

Fallback levels are to be defined for critical infrastructure so that basic operation remains possible during an outage. The state is to get a central IT security strategy against cybercrime. At the federal level, the Greens advocate a Cyberwehr (cyber emergency service) that citizens and small and medium-sized businesses can turn to during attacks and for prevention. Volunteer fire departments and youth fire brigades are to be better equipped. An app is to alert first responders and speed up emergency care.

The Greens want to grow Bremen's police force to 2,900 officers by 2025 and keep the police stations in the city's districts. The police are to be easy to reach in person and online, and to patrol more often on foot and by bicycle.

The Greens want more police officers in Bremen. There should be 2,900 by 2025. Police stations in the neighborhoods should stay. More officers should patrol on foot and by bike.

The Bremerhaven police authority is to grow to 560 officers at first, with 580 staff named as the later target. The number of community contact officers is to rise to 110. The Greens oppose taking further tasks away from local stations, want to evaluate the new station concept, and want regular quality reviews of how crime reports are taken. Bicycle patrols are to be extended to the whole city. Also planned are more staff for the public order service, an expanded online police station, and online patrols.

The Greens want to give the police more money for staff wherever new or more complex tasks arise. Backlogged cases are to be cleared, overtime reduced and working conditions improved. Police work is also to become more digital.

The Greens want more money for police staff. This applies where the police get new tasks. Old cases should be handled faster. Officers should have less overtime. The police should get modern technology.

Additional staff are to work through unprocessed cases so that reported crimes are dealt with promptly. To cut overtime, tasks are to be shifted to the public order service or to non-civil-servant employees. The plans include working from home in suitable areas, more professional supervision and an expansion of the programs "Grenzgang & Kraftraum." Direct entry into the criminal police after training is to become easier, and a strategy for fighting online crime is to be developed. Patrol cars are to get smartphones and card readers, and virtual reality headsets are to become standard in training. For investigations into depictions of sexualized violence against children, the Greens want to examine machine learning for reviewing material and special leave for investigators.

The Greens want regular police patrol units to wear body cameras as a matter of routine. According to the program, the cameras protect officers from attacks and reduce police misconduct. The Greens reject tasers for patrol duty.

The Greens want more body cameras for the police. The cameras should record attacks and police mistakes. The Greens are against tasers on patrol. A taser is a weapon that gives electric shocks.

Until now, only parts of the riot police units had bodycams. The program points to the existing legal duty to start recording when officers use force or when the person affected asks for it. The Greens accept tasers for the special operations unit (SEK) and, as an exception, for the Bremerhaven local police, which has no SEK. The condition is strict rules and safeguards against misuse.

The Greens want to add staff to the police, the public prosecutor's office and the prison service to fight organized crime. A ban on cash payments for real estate and a register of the actual owners are meant to curb money laundering.

The Greens want more staff to fight organized crime groups. Nobody should be allowed to buy houses with cash. A register should show who really owns a house. This is meant to stop money laundering. Money laundering means: criminals hide where money comes from.

A real estate register is to disclose the beneficial owners and end the hiding of ownership behind shell companies. Building authorities are to be allowed to demand information about the actual owners before granting a building permit when ownership is unclear. The confiscation of assets from organized crime is to continue. Where possible, the seized money is to be used to support groups of victims.

The Greens want better protection against misuse of register information for people who are often threatened because of volunteer work or their job. They should find it easier to block their address in the residents' register and the vehicle register. The program argues that committed people might otherwise withdraw.

Some people are threatened because of their job or volunteer work. The Greens want to protect these people better. Offices should not simply give out their address. Blocking the address should be easier. Flyers should no longer have to show a private address.

The program notes that information from the residents' register and vehicle owner lookups can be used to intimidate people. The easier blocks are also to apply to people close to those affected. In addition, the legal notice requirement for flyers and similar printed material is to be changed so that private addresses no longer have to be disclosed.

The Greens want to step up prosecution of hate and incitement on the internet. To that end, central investigation units, an online police patrol and an expanded online police station are to be created. Those affected are to get independent counseling.

The Greens want to fight online hate more strongly. Special units at the police and prosecutor's office should investigate. The police should also be visible on social networks. Reporting crimes online and by phone should be easier. Victims should get counseling.

Officers who take reports are to be trained regularly on hate speech and checked through spot quality controls. The online patrol is to intervene and be reachable in places such as open Telegram channels, Facebook groups and comment sections. The online police station and reporting by phone are to become accessible and usable for more types of crime. Prosecutors are to record hate crime in more statistical detail, for example against women, trans* and non-binary people, BIPoC and people with disabilities. Counseling for those affected is to be based at the state anti-discrimination office.

The Greens want everyone to be able to turn to the police without fear. A study on structural racism, receipts for every identity check and more diversity among police staff are meant to contribute to this. A dedicated crisis intervention team is planned for people in mental health crises.

The Greens want more trust in the police. A study should look at racism in the police and fire department. Anyone who is checked should always get a receipt stating the reason. The police should become more diverse. There should be a special team for people in a mental crisis.

The police's queer liaison officer post is to become a full-time position, and a matching post is to be created in Bremerhaven. In recruiting, the police are to address people with a migration background and queer people specifically; language skills and intercultural awareness are to carry more weight in training. Training courses and a multi-professional team are planned for dealing with people in acute mental distress. People who are drunk or under the influence of drugs are to be placed in a central facility with medical care instead of police custody, following Hamburg's example.

The Greens want to broaden the Opferanlaufstellengesetz (law on victim contact points), which has provided a right to counseling since 2020. Support organizations are to be allowed to reach out to victims on their own initiative more often. According to the program, many crime victims currently do not seek help out of ignorance or uncertainty.

The Greens want better help for victims of crime. Support services should be allowed to contact victims themselves. Many victims do not get help so far. People who speak little German should also get help.

One focus is to be access to victim support despite language and other barriers. Emergency and rescue services are to be made more aware of the issue, and existing measures are to be reviewed regularly. The law is meant to contribute to implementing the Istanbul Convention, a treaty against violence toward women.

The Greens want to secure enough staff and better working conditions at the Bremen fire department, which they say is needed more often because of the climate crisis. Plans include a new station in the south of Bremen, newer vehicles for the volunteer fire brigades and better benefits for surviving dependents. Cases of racism and misogyny in the fire department are to be investigated further.

The Greens want enough staff at the fire department. Working there should get better. A new fire station should be built in the south of Bremen. Volunteer fire brigades should get new vehicles. Racism in the fire department should be cleared up.

The plans include appropriate pay, family-friendly working hours, a lighter workload and further training, including on heat and drought. The Greens advocate recognizing firefighter cancer as an occupational disease. Volunteer brigade vehicles more than twenty years old are to be replaced quickly, and youth fire brigades are to get more support. The new station is to serve Habenhausen, Kattenturm, Kattenesch and Arsten, and the Bennigsen station is to stay so that crews arrive within eight minutes. Survivor benefits are also to cover unmarried partners and their children. Funding is to be provided for academic monitoring of the reform process "Feuerwehr 2025."

The Greens want to extend bans on firecrackers and offer public professional fireworks and laser shows instead. This is meant to ease the burden on the fire department and ambulance service on New Year's Eve. The program also cites the environment, health and animal welfare as reasons.

The Greens want to ban firecrackers in more places. Instead there should be public fireworks run by professionals. Laser shows are also planned. Firefighters and paramedics should have fewer call-outs on New Year's Eve. This should also help the environment and animals.

The Greens want to broaden the existing bans on firecrackers. As a replacement, professional fireworks and laser shows are to be organized publicly. The reasons given are the strain on emergency crews on New Year's Eve and the protection of the environment, health and animals.

The Greens want to extend the siren network so that all of Bremen and Bremerhaven is covered. They also want authorities to be better prepared for disasters, including power outages and attacks on digital networks.

The Greens want to put up more sirens. People should hear them everywhere in Bremen and Bremerhaven. Authorities should prepare better for emergencies. This includes long power outages.

Sirens are to supplement warning apps and cell broadcast and cover both cities completely. Residents should know how to prepare and what to do in an emergency. Digital skills in the security agencies are to be improved. The strategy for protecting critical infrastructure is to be reviewed for possible improvements. Disaster planning is to cover not only floods, heavy rain and drought but also a large-scale, long-lasting power outage and attacks on digital infrastructure.

The Greens want Jewish people in Bremen to live safely and move freely everywhere, including when wearing visible Jewish symbols. To that end, police and prosecutors are to be better trained, responsibilities clarified and prevention expanded.

Jewish people should live safely in Bremen. They should be able to wear their symbols openly. Police and prosecutors should learn more about hatred of Jews. There should be more prevention work.

The platform points out that antisemitic crimes have increased nationwide and in Bremen. Police and prosecutors are to gain more knowledge about every form antisemitism takes. Responsibility for such crimes is to be defined more clearly. Prevention work is to be expanded considerably.

The Greens want to give the Verfassungsschutz (domestic intelligence service) no new powers and to abolish the current system of paid informants in the area of right-wing extremism. Oversight of the service is to be expanded through an independent commission.

The Verfassungsschutz is a domestic intelligence service. The Greens do not want to give it new powers. Paid informants in the far-right scene should no longer exist in this form. An independent body should check the service more closely.

The Federal Constitutional Court's ruling on Bavaria's intelligence law is to be implemented in Bremen in a way that favors fundamental rights. The Greens want to go to the Federal Constitutional Court against federal encroachment on state lawmaking, for example on state trojans for intelligence offices. In the platform's view, informants must not lead to observed milieus being co-financed and serious crimes being covered up. The G-10 commission is to become an oversight body for all serious intrusions on fundamental rights, with members able to network nationwide. The blanket exemption for the service in the freedom of information law is to be removed.

The Greens want to increase staffing for the Ordnungsdienst (municipal public order service) and for traffic enforcement. Around Bremen's main station, the quality of public space and the sense of safety are to improve again, including through safe spaces for staying and for drug consumption.

The Greens want more staff for the public order service. Traffic enforcement should also get more jobs. People should feel safe again at the main station. There should be safe rooms to stay in.

The public order service is to grow to 150 full-time positions and traffic enforcement to 100. The platform regards the service, introduced in the current term, as a success because it is visible and approachable and relieves the police. Joint checks by police and the order service at the main station are to take place more often. Where transit stops are permanently used as places to stay, a legal review is to determine whether intervention is possible without violating freedom of movement.

The Greens want to remove minor offenses from criminal law so that courts and prosecutors can focus on what the party sees as more important matters. This includes riding without a ticket, dumpster diving and unlawful residence; cannabis is to be sold in a state-controlled market.

The Greens want to stop punishing small offenses. Riding without a ticket should no longer be a crime. People who cannot pay a fine should not go to prison. They should get debt counseling. Cannabis should be sold in a market the state controls.

The platform treats riding without a ticket as a mere breach of contract to be settled under civil law. Drug checking is to be backed by reliable minimum thresholds for each substance. Prison terms in lieu of unpaid fines for people without means are to be avoided and replaced by debt counseling, because the Greens consider them disproportionate, expensive and socially unjust. Also to be removed from criminal law are the ban on face coverings at demonstrations, unlawful residence and aiding it, dumpster diving, and Section 166 on insulting religious beliefs.

The Greens reject remote searches of devices, state trojans and biometric surveillance systems. Existing video surveillance is to be reviewed for effectiveness, cost and proportionality.

The Greens do not want state trojans. These are programs the state uses to read phones in secret. They also reject surveillance with face recognition. They want to check whether video surveillance works.

In the platform's view, state trojans are a security risk because they exploit smartphone vulnerabilities that criminals can also use; such gaps should be reported instead. The Greens want to keep following up on the 2021 police data protection scandal in parliament and together with civil society. Past uses of video surveillance are to be evaluated and the current powers reviewed. The party relies on close cooperation with the state data protection commissioner.

The Greens want to introduce a state rehabilitation law to improve the prospects of people released from prison and prevent reoffending. This comes with digital access for prisoners, more open custody, and better addiction and health care in prison.

The Greens want a new law for the time after prison. It should help people not to commit crimes again. Prisoners should be able to use the internet and e-mail under supervision. Prisons should offer better help with addiction.

The law is meant to better equip and connect those working in rehabilitation. A "digital day release" is to give suitable prisoners supervised access to the internet, e-mail and video calls for family contact, education and job applications. Prison sentences are to be avoided for minor offenses; open custody is to be strengthened, especially for juveniles, and further non-custodial forms tested. In addition to substitution treatment, clean syringes are to be provided to prevent HIV infections. Also planned are dedicated treatment capacity in the Bremen and Bremerhaven prisons and handover management for continued treatment after release.

The Greens call for a plan to better protect houses of worship in Bremen and Bremerhaven and to raise awareness among security agencies and the judiciary. They want to fight antisemitism, make Jewish culture more visible and keep supporting exchange between religions.

Churches, mosques and synagogues should be better protected. The Greens want a plan for this. Police and courts should pay more attention to the issue. The party wants to support Jewish life in Bremen. Talks between religions should also keep getting money.

The platform justifies the demand by noting that several congregations have experienced violence in recent years. The party wants to keep taking part in the forum for the promotion of Jewish life and thereby support Jewish initiatives in the state. The state treaties with religious communities are to be reviewed for their effects and, where needed, revised and extended. Existing formats of interfaith dialogue are to keep receiving support.

The Greens want to put more money and staff into cleaning, security, and on-site contact persons around Bremen's main train station. Targeted checks are meant to curb drug dealing. The station is to become a transit hub where people like to spend time.

The Greens want to improve the area around Bremen's main station. More staff should work there on cleaning and safety. Checks should reduce drug dealing. Everyone should feel safe there.

The platform names safety, cleanliness, and greenery as the key issues for the station area. The police are to be supported in keeping the area safe for commuters, tourists, and businesses. Different groups of users are to be spread out, partly by creating so-called tolerance zones. Dialogue with neighbors is to be stepped up, and authorities are to work more closely with social work and addiction services.

The Greens want to pursue their freedom of assembly law, which they call the most liberal in Germany. Conditions and bans on demonstrations are to be the exception, and police are to be allowed to film less. Covering one's face at a protest would no longer be a crime but an administrative offense.

The Greens want a new law for protests. Bans and conditions should be rare. Police should film less. Some people cover their face at protests. That should no longer be a crime, only a minor offense.

The law is meant to protect freedoms and give authorities clear rules for accompanying assemblies and working with organizers. The platform justifies downgrading the ban on face coverings by saying police would then not be forced to step in and could avoid escalation. The Greens describe themselves here as a liberal rule-of-law party that wants to protect people from an overreaching state. By their own account, they presented the draft during the current term.

The Greens want police protection dogs to be kept permanently out of rallies and large events. Their use there is currently suspended for the time being. The platform cites the stress on the animals and an unnecessary risk to demonstrators.

The police in Bremen have protection dogs. Right now they do not use the dogs at protests. The Greens want it to stay that way. The dogs have a lot of stress there. The dogs are a risk for people at the protest.

The platform notes that prong collars are already banned for protection dogs and says this has improved the animals' situation. Their use at rallies and large events is suspended for now. The Greens want to lock in this practice for the future.