Grüne on public safety

The Greens want to give disaster response services and the Havariekommando (Germany's maritime emergency command) more staff and funding. Ship cargo is to be made safer and checked more often while still in port. Cooperation among North Sea countries and maritime research are also to be expanded.

The Greens want better protection when accidents happen at sea. The Havariekommando helps when ships have accidents. It should get more money and more staff. Ship cargo should be checked more often in port.

The plan calls for clear emergency plans for shipping accidents and much better disaster response equipment on the coast and the islands. The state government is to press the federal government to meet international commitments on cargo safety. Cooperation with the North Sea countries on environmental monitoring, research and funding programs is to be deepened. The program highlights fossil-free ship propulsion, measuring and tracking systems, and smart ship control as priorities. Maritime research at universities is to be strengthened and maritime training continuously updated.

The Greens want to amend Lower Saxony's law on the Verfassungsschutz (domestic intelligence service) so that 14-year-olds are not handled by that agency. For young offenders they favor non-custodial youth welfare measures over prison.

The Verfassungsschutz is the state's domestic intelligence service. The Greens say it should not deal with 14-year-olds. Youth welfare should be in charge instead. Young people who commit crimes should get help, not prison.

The program commits to the principle of "youth welfare instead of jail" and wants to keep the conditions needed for it. Non-custodial youth welfare measures are to be supported and help for young offenders further expanded. The state's intelligence law is to be changed so that 14-year-olds are a matter for youth welfare.

The Greens want to revise Lower Saxony's police law, review expanded police powers for effectiveness and proportionality, and scale them back. A structural commission is to draw up recommendations on police equipment and training.

The Greens want to change the police law in Lower Saxony. The police should have fewer powers to interfere with people's rights. A commission should suggest better equipment and training. The police should be well prepared for digital crime.

The program is especially critical of preventive detention of up to 35 days, the wider use of tasers and the current rules on body cameras. In the Greens' view, powers were too often expanded instead of equipping and training the police for new tasks such as digital crime. Future security reforms are to undergo an effectiveness check. The party rejects a militarization of the police through additional armament.

The Greens want to create an independent police commissioner appointed by parliament whom both officers and citizens can contact. An organizationally separate internal review unit would investigate suspected crimes by police officers.

The Greens want a new office: a police commissioner. Police officers and citizens can go there with problems. A separate unit should also investigate police officers suspected of crimes. Today, colleagues from other stations do this.

The office is to have enough staff to work independently of the interior ministry and be accessible to those affected in several languages and with few barriers. Officers should be able to contact it outside the chain of command. A public report is due at least once a year and should name problems such as racial profiling. More support, supervision and training are also planned. Paramedics, street workers and psychological crisis services are to be involved more closely and civil providers expanded to relieve the police.

The Greens want to improve legal protection at demonstrations and introduce anonymized identification for officers in closed police units. Violating the ban on face coverings would no longer be a criminal offense, and mounted and canine units would be banned at assemblies.

The Greens want to protect people at protests better. Police officers in group operations should wear a number. That way they can be identified later without their name. Covering your face at a protest should no longer be a crime. Police horses and police dogs should be banned there.

The identification would apply at demonstrations and soccer matches, for example, while still protecting officers' privacy. The party favors de-escalating tactics meant to protect both sides from violence. The operational concepts and structure of the evidence-gathering and arrest units (BFE) are to be critically revised. The program justifies the ban on animal units as a de-escalation measure.

The Greens want transparent rules for video surveillance in public spaces, including a public register of cameras. They reject mass video surveillance without specific cause because, in their view, it does little to avert danger.

The Greens want clear rules for cameras in streets and squares. A public list should show where cameras are. Agencies should only get the footage under fixed conditions. The Greens reject watching everyone without a reason.

The rules are meant to protect each individual's rights. The conditions under which security agencies may access footage are to be precisely defined. In addition, the EU data protection directive for justice and home affairs is to be fully implemented in state law.

The Greens want a ticket system that documents every police stop in writing so that those affected can prove excessive checks. Police work is also to be monitored by researchers, and training is to focus more on civic education and diversity skills.

The police may not stop people because of how they look. So the Greens want a receipt after every police stop. It shows the place, time and reason. Researchers should study how the police work. Officers should learn more about diversity and democracy.

Crime statistics are to be supplemented by a regular criminological security report focusing on rarely reported offenses against vulnerable people. The party will examine allowing police training at regular universities too; more flexible hiring requirements are meant to make the force more diverse. A comprehensive prevention plan is to strengthen the police against right-wing extremism. For Lower Saxony officers on Frontex missions, it must be ensured that they take no part in human rights violations, backed by better training and regular supervision.

The Greens reject the powers added to Lower Saxony's Verfassungsschutz (domestic intelligence service) in 2021 and want to continue reforming it. Its powers are to be limited, information requests made easier and parliamentary oversight strengthened.

The Verfassungsschutz is a domestic intelligence service. It got more powers in 2021. The Greens reject that. Citizens should find out more easily what the service knows about them. Parliament should check the service more closely.

As examples of the expansions it rejects, the program cites the easier use of informants and the surveillance of minors. At the same time, the party accepts that the state needs its own intelligence on anti-democratic, especially far-right, structures. Police and intelligence services are to remain strictly separate. People under observation are to get stronger legal protection, and the oversight bodies of the federal and state governments are to be better connected.

The Greens consider much higher investment in civil protection and disaster response necessary, citing the effects of climate change and the war against Ukraine. Plans include better equipment, preventive strategies and a task force for peatland and forest fires.

The Greens want to spend much more on disaster response. Climate change brings more floods and fires. There should be better warning systems and emergency supplies. A new task force should deal with forest and peatland fires. Fire departments should attract more people.

The program mentions modern alert systems, stockpiles of emergency supplies and rapid aid in crisis regions. It accuses the SPD-CDU state government of failing to adequately fund the statewide disaster response strategy. Professional and volunteer fire service is to become more attractive and draw more women and migrants. Converting conifer forests to mixed forests and rewetting peatlands are meant to reduce fire risk. Cross-border cooperation is to be expanded and institutionalized at the EU level.

The Greens want petty offenses such as cannabis use for personal consumption, fare evasion and dumpster diving to no longer be handled through criminal law. Jail time served in place of unpaid fines should be avoided wherever possible, because the platform regards it as costly, counterproductive and socially unfair.

The Greens do not want to punish small offenses as crimes. One example is cannabis for personal use. Another is riding without a ticket. People who cannot pay a fine should not go to jail if possible.

The platform backs the federal government's plan to review and modernize criminal law. Until there is a federal rule, state law is to be used so that cannabis use is not prosecuted. To avoid jail in place of fines, programs such as "Schwitzen statt Sitzen" (community work instead of jail), help with managing money, and outreach by the state's justice social service are to be strengthened. According to the platform, this relieves the police, enforcement agencies and prisons.

The Greens want to consistently confiscate assets gained through crime and seize real estate bought with laundered money. Public prosecutors' offices are to get more staff for this.

Some people make money from crime. The Greens want to take this money away. The state should also seize houses bought with dirty money. Prosecutors should get more staff for this.

The platform bases the plan on the principle that crime must not pay. Wherever money is made from crime, the existing tools for confiscating assets are to be used across the board. Prosecutors' offices are to receive the staff needed for this.

The Greens put the reintegration of prisoners at the center of the prison system and want to expand open prisons for suitable inmates. In the platform's view, successful rehabilitation is the best protection for victims.

Prisoners should live without new crimes after their release. The Greens want more help in prison for this. There should be therapy, schooling and job training. More suitable prisoners should move to open prisons. There they may leave the prison during the day.

The plan includes medical treatment, especially for addiction, drug prevention and therapy that improves social skills. It also includes offers for community life and for schooling and vocational training, including digital learning platforms. Open prisons are meant to help prepare for release and to stabilize ties with family and social surroundings. The prison system and the probation service are to work more closely together again so that follow-up care secures the results of treatment.

The Greens want to put more focus on preventing crime and to draw up a prevention strategy for all of Lower Saxony. Victims are to get more attention in criminal proceedings, including through faster proceedings for violent crimes and counseling close to home.

The Greens want to stop crimes before they happen. There should be a plan for all of Lower Saxony. Victims of crime should get more help. Court cases about violence should go faster. Counseling should be available close to home.

The state prevention council is to be strengthened, and the strategy developed together with municipalities, police and civil society. Victims who testify are to have the option of video questioning everywhere. Judges and prosecutors are to get more training, for example on questioning children. Initiatives for people affected by crime will be funded, and digital services are to complement local counseling. Prosecutors' offices are to get a commissioner on antisemitism.

The Greens want to prosecute hate speech and hate crime more strongly, including online, and to give police and the justice system more resources for it. This comes with more civic education, support for those affected, an action plan against racism and revoking gun permits held by opponents of the constitution.

Some people attack others out of hate. This often happens online. The Greens want to pursue these crimes more strongly. Police and courts should get more resources for this. People who are attacked should get more help. Enemies of the constitution should not have guns.

The central office against hate crime at the Göttingen prosecutor's office is to be strengthened, as is the authorities' ability to investigate digitally, while basic rights such as control over one's own data are to be respected. There are to be new ways to report, file charges on and statistically record hate offenses. Victims of far-right violence are to receive a secure right to stay. Synagogues and other threatened institutions are to get protection quickly and without red tape. The plan also includes tackling structural racism in institutions and using all legal means against Reichsbürger (people who reject the German state) and other opponents of the constitution in public service.

The Greens want to keep soccer matches safe while lowering the cost of police deployments. To that end, authorities, clubs and fans are to draw up security concepts together. The party also wants to take action against violence and bigotry in sports.

Soccer matches should stay safe. But police operations should cost less. Authorities, clubs and fans should make plans together. The Greens will look into a fee for organizers of very risky matches. Violence and hate in sports should be fought.

For high-risk matches in professional soccer, the Greens want an open-ended review of whether commercial organizers should pay the extra police costs as a fee, following the Bremen model. Clear, fixed standards are to determine when a match counts as high-risk. Social-work fan projects and prevention programs are to be strengthened. The nationwide structures against physical, psychological and sexualized violence in sports are to be used and expanded in the state. Clubs and fan projects get support for their work on diversity and queer sports; union organizing in professional sports is also backed.