Grüne on public safety

The Greens want to add staff to the justice system, modernize it and relieve it of some tasks so that proceedings move faster. No one in NRW is to be imprisoned for petty offenses; jail time in lieu of unpaid fines is to be largely replaced by community service.

Courts should get more staff. No one should go to prison for minor offenses. Riding without a ticket should no longer be reported to the police. People who cannot pay a fine should do community work instead of going to jail. The limit for cannabis should rise to 15 grams.

Agreements with the transit associations are to classify riding without a ticket as a contract dispute that is not reported as a crime. NRW's guidelines on cannabis possession and use are to set a threshold of 15 grams. Youth detention, especially weekend detention and so-called warning-shot detention, is to be reviewed because the party sees it as neither a deterrent nor educational. The justice system is to get more flexible, family-friendly structures and reflect the population's diversity, including in leadership. The Greens support making the federal-state Pact for the Rule of Law permanent and adding a digital pact.

The Greens want more staff in the prison service, more attractive careers, and modernized prisons. This is meant to ease the burden on employees, ensure humane conditions, and reduce reoffending.

The Greens want more staff in prisons. Working there should become more attractive. Old prison buildings should be renewed. Prisoners should commit fewer crimes after release.

The platform points to heavy workloads, overtime, and high sick-leave rates, which also mean fewer classes, sports, therapy slots, and doctor visits for prisoners. New positions are to go mainly to psychological, educational, pastoral, and medical services. Dilapidated facilities are to be renewed in a modernization drive, partly because of safety risks such as poor fire protection. Staff are to treat inmates with more respect. Pilot projects modeled on Norway would prepare inmates for returning to private and working life.

The Greens want to fight hate speech and violence online with effective prosecution, reporting channels, counseling, and public campaigns. The cybercrime units in the justice system and the state criminal police would be expanded for this purpose. The platform sees hate speech as a danger to those targeted and to democratic debate.

There is a lot of hate and insults on the internet. The Greens want stronger action against it. Special units in the courts and police should grow. Victims should get advice and a fixed contact person.

The plan includes a reporting structure coordinated between the federal and state levels, well-staffed counseling services, and public awareness campaigns. The justice system's central cybercrime office and the cybercrime center at the state criminal police office (LKA) are to grow in the area of hate speech. Specially trained contact persons for victims are to work at prosecutors' offices and the police. According to the platform, far-right actors try to silence voices that stand up for diversity and minority rights.

The Greens want a new victim protection law and a legal basis for the reintegration of offenders. The transition out of prison would be better organized, and alternatives to prison used more. Victims of sexual offenses, stalking, and threats would face less strain in court.

The Greens want a new law to protect victims of crime. Released prisoners should get help with work and housing. Other penalties should be used more often instead of prison. Victims should be questioned more gently in court.

Reintegration would be anchored in the victim protection law or in a separate state law. People leaving prison should not end up jobless or homeless and would get support in starting over. Because the party believes prison excludes people even after their sentence, sanctions that avoid custody would take priority. Uniform laws and administrative rules are meant to clarify responsibilities and free up money for both goals. For victims of sexual offenses, stalking, and threats, the Greens want witness questioning adapted to the allegations so that more offenses are reported.

The Greens want to keep police hiring at its high level while reflecting society's diversity in recruitment. More officers would work in neighborhood and priority-area policing. The criminal investigation police would get more staff and better training.

The Greens want to keep hiring many new police officers. The police should be as diverse as society. More officers should work in neighborhoods. The detective branch should also get more staff.

The police training institutions LAFP and HSPV would grow in staff and resources so that quality holds up despite large numbers of recruits. Neighborhood officers would work with municipal services, counseling centers, and street workers. Given growing demands in child abuse, environmental crime, money laundering, and organized crime, the criminal police would allow specialization and expert career tracks. Shift models would be reviewed, and crisis intervention and supervision expanded. Training on de-escalation, right-wing extremism, racism, hate crime, and human rights would include mandatory modules.

The Greens reject blanket video surveillance without cause and biometric recognition software. The powers of the police and the domestic intelligence agency would be reviewed on an ongoing basis. Tasers would be limited to special units, and officers would wear anonymized identification.

The Greens do not want cameras everywhere without a reason. They also reject software that recognizes faces. Regular police officers should no longer carry Tasers. Officers should wear a number, but not their name.

The party rejects continued use of Palantir software as long as the state data protection commissioner has not agreed and no legal basis exists. An overall surveillance audit would continuously assess all intrusive powers of the security agencies. The Greens oppose Tasers outside special units, citing health risks, heavy training needs, and limited usefulness; the rollout to patrol officers already underway would be reversed. Individual, anonymized identification of officers would be introduced in a legally sound way that protects their privacy rights.

The Greens want to correct the 2018 tightening of the state's police law. Preventive detention would be capped at 48 hours, and stops without cause would be abolished. The platform says intrusions on fundamental rights should be limited to what is strictly necessary.

In 2018, the police in NRW got more powers. The Greens want to take some of them back. Police should hold people as a precaution for 48 hours at most. Stops without a reason should end.

The party rejects preventive restrictions on liberty where there is no concrete danger. Anyone taken into preventive detention would be assigned legal counsel. People who are stopped would receive a written receipt that lets them have the reasons reviewed later. The platform argues that broad, vaguely worded powers do not help officers acting in difficult situations either.

The Greens want every suspected case of right-wing extremism in the police fully investigated and want to introduce mandatory training. An academic study would examine racist and other dehumanizing attitudes in the NRW police. Everyone should be able to trust that the police will not discriminate against them.

The Greens want to act against racism in the police. Every suspicion of far-right views should be checked closely. Officers should take required training on this. Researchers should study attitudes in the police.

The recommendations of the task force on far-right tendencies in the NRW police would be implemented and developed further. These include opportunities for prevention and reflection as well as rules on staff rotation. Reporting tips would be made easier. Supervisors would be better trained to assess suspected cases and step in.

The Greens want to create an independent police commissioner's office attached to the state parliament. It would be a point of contact for both citizens and police officers and would uncover structural problems. Whistleblowers within the police would receive special protection.

The Greens want an independent office for complaints about the police. It should belong to the state parliament. Citizens and police officers can contact it. People who report problems should not suffer for it.

In the party's view, individual court cases and the existing complaints process are not enough to detect structural problems. The office would advise parliament on police matters and report regularly on its work. It would work with a team from different professions and have the right to inspect files, demand information, question people, and enter premises. The Greens also want to examine how criminal and disciplinary investigations, for instance into alleged excessive force, could be improved.

The Greens want to standardize the tasks of the county police authorities and pool them regionally. According to the platform, the police structure in NRW is especially fragmented, so local authorities cannot handle large cases. The police are still meant to remain reachable everywhere in the state.

NRW has many small police authorities. The Greens say this makes big cases harder to handle. Tasks should be the same everywhere and grouped by region. The police should still be present everywhere.

The platform cites the Lügde sexual abuse case as evidence that reform is needed. It says the many authorities of differing size and remit put the police at a disadvantage in doing their job. Pooling is meant to allow complex cases to be handled better.

The Greens want a regular security report prepared with the involvement of outside researchers. It would go beyond the police crime statistics, which the party says do not give a full picture. Crime policy is thus meant to rest on an evidence-based footing.

The Greens want a regular report on safety in NRW. Outside researchers should help write it. The report should also show crimes that nobody reported. This should help politicians make better decisions.

According to the platform, the crime statistics only cover cases known to the police and do not show whether charges or a verdict followed. Unreported offenses, the so-called dark figure, are left out, so trends may go unnoticed. The report would therefore include studies of unreported crime, research into causes, and how safe residents feel.

The Greens want to restrict the Verfassungsschutz (domestic intelligence service) to monitoring anti-constitutional, violence-prone movements. They reject state spyware and want to review and reduce the use of informants. Parliamentary oversight is to be expanded at the same time.

The Verfassungsschutz is a domestic intelligence service. The Greens want to limit its tasks. It should mainly watch violent enemies of democracy. It should not use spy software on phones and computers. The state parliament should control it more closely.

According to the platform, the service should focus on anti-constitutional and violence-prone groups. The Greens reject state spyware for monitoring devices because, in their view, it endangers everyone's IT security. The service's powers are to be included in an overall surveillance audit, meaning a combined review of all state surveillance measures. A permanent expert position is to be created at the parliamentary oversight committee, and the committee is to meet in public. An independent research network is also to study anti-democratic and inhumane structures and evaluate prevention and exit programs.

The Greens want to reorganize disaster response after the Covid pandemic and the floods of July 2021. They plan binding needs plans, a dedicated state agency and better warning systems. Volunteers in fire departments and aid organizations are to receive more support.

The Greens want better protection in disasters. They want to learn from the pandemic and the 2021 floods. The state should get its own disaster agency. Warnings should reach everyone and be easy to understand. Volunteer helpers should get more support.

Counties and independent cities are to draw up mandatory disaster response needs plans, and the state is to take responsibility in an emergency. A state disaster response agency is to be created, and the activation of the state government's crisis team is to be regulated in a binding way. The state is to prepare its own planning for scenarios such as a long power outage or attacks on digital infrastructure and improve wildfire response. For volunteers, the Greens plan an expanded volunteer card, for example with free local transit, and more money for licenses to drive rescue vehicles. A firefighter pension modeled on Thuringia is to be examined. The share of women is to rise, and first-aid courses and school paramedic services are to be expanded.