Grüne on public safety

The Greens want to modernize and expand civil protection. Plans include a new state situation and competence center, a state stockpile of essential goods, new vehicles and preparations for prolonged power outages.

The Greens want the state to be better prepared for disasters. A new center should lead large operations. A warehouse should keep important things like medical supplies. Helpers should get new vehicles. The state should also prepare for long power cuts.

The basis is a 10-point plan for which 35 million euros have already been provided. The state stockpile is to hold medical goods, special equipment and supplies for evacuated people. Disaster plans are to be revised, and software at control centers and crisis staffs linked so that situation data flows without breaks. Fire stations, schools and town halls are to be equipped for outages, digital radio secured, and the vehicle fleet, some of it 30 years old, renewed. Each ministry is to name a disaster protection officer; training, exercises and civil-military cooperation are to grow.

The Greens want to extend the MoWaS warning system with cell broadcast, more sirens and digital billboards. People with disabilities are to receive special attention in warnings and evacuations, and a state portal is to inform about risks and preparedness.

The Greens want better warnings when there is danger. Warnings should come straight to cell phones. There should be more sirens. People with disabilities should get special help. A website should explain how to prepare.

Cell broadcast sends alerts to all mobile phones within a radio cell. Helpers are to receive training in inclusive disaster response so that people with disabilities get support during evacuations. A state portal for residents and businesses is to explain risks and offer guidance on what to do, accompanied by an information campaign. In addition, concepts are to be developed for dealing with Reichsbürger (people who reject the German state) and preppers in disaster areas.

The Greens want the police to be adequately staffed and equipped but reject additional weapons systems. Training is to focus more on de-escalation, civic education and dealing with group-based hostility. Receipts would become mandatory for identity checks.

The police should be well equipped. But the Greens do not want more and more weapons for the police. Officers should learn more about calming conflicts. People who are checked should get a receipt.

The requirements profile for police recruits is to be developed further, along with digital skills and intercultural training. Supervision and aftercare following stressful operations are to be strengthened, as is a culture of openly dealing with mistakes, especially among leadership. The recommendations of the committee of inquiry into misconduct in the state police are to be implemented. Discriminatory or racist tendencies within the police are to be detected early and sanctioned.

The Greens reject the blanket storage of communications data without specific cause and want to target concrete dangers instead. They also reject the current use of source telecommunications surveillance and remote searches of devices, as well as body cams inside homes.

The Greens oppose storing everyone's data without a reason. The police should act against real dangers in a targeted way. The police should not secretly spy on phones and computers. They should not use body cameras inside homes either.

The program describes data retention as counterproductive for security. It considers the current use of Quellen-TKÜ (reading encrypted communication directly on a device) and online searches incompatible with the requirements of the Federal Constitutional Court. The state should not exploit security vulnerabilities but close them quickly; a government reporting obligation is planned for this.

The Greens want to step up prosecution of hate crime, online offenses and money laundering. Specialized units of police and prosecutors are to work together, and victims are to get better support. Crime statistics are to become more informative.

The Greens want to act more strongly against hate crime. Police and prosecutors should work together well. Victims should get more help. Crimes on the internet and money laundering should also be pursued more.

For cybercrime, abuse imagery, cyberbullying and online hate, teams of IT experts and police officers are to investigate. Plans include trained contact persons at the police, more counseling for victims and a digital outpatient service for protection against violence. To combat abuse imagery, authorities would get more staff and technical tools for evaluating seized data. A task force of police, tax investigators and prosecutors would tackle money laundering, and crime statistics would become periodic security reports with a regional focus.

The Greens want to significantly reduce the number of domestic violence offenses. To that end, support and counseling services and prevention are to be expanded, and violations of protection orders punished more strictly.

The Greens want less violence in families and relationships. Victims should get more help and advice. Offenders should have to take a training course early on. Anyone who keeps approaching a victim can be detained.

The program justifies the demands by noting that protection orders are repeatedly ignored. It calls for mandatory offender training from the first police call-out, reporting requirements during a removal order, residence requirements and detention for repeated breaches of no-contact and restraining orders. The Council of Europe's Istanbul Convention on violence against women is to be implemented. Offenses hostile to children and women are to be shown separately in crime statistics.

The Greens want human trafficking to be prosecuted consistently and victims to be better protected. At the federal level they advocate a right to stay for those affected; the state should also shield them from deportation as far as possible.

Human trafficking also happens in Schleswig-Holstein. The Greens want to pursue the offenders strictly. The victims should be allowed to stay in Germany. Counseling centers for victims should be strengthened.

The program cites cases of labor exploitation and forced prostitution in the state. The state is to explore every option to avoid deporting victims to the countries where the crimes took place or to their countries of origin, so they can build a life free of violence. Funding for the specialized counseling service on trafficking in women is to continue.

The Greens want to review existing deradicalization, exit and prevention programs and expand the ones that work. The platform sees prevention as a task for society as a whole, with government and civil society working together.

The Greens want to check programs against extremism. Good programs should grow. This should keep people from becoming radical. Government and community groups should work together.

The focus is on measures against far-right, racist and discriminatory movements. Research is meant to advance new prevention concepts and risk management. Municipalities are to set up Partnerships for Democracy that complement local prevention councils. Civil society initiatives are to receive reliable, long-term funding. Projects are also to address boys and men on toxic masculinity, and men's counseling centers are to be involved in protecting women and girls from violence.

The Greens want to reform the state's Verfassungsschutz (domestic intelligence agency). Clear legal rules are to apply to informants and data storage, and the state parliament is to exercise stronger oversight.

The Greens want to change the Verfassungsschutz. That is the state's domestic intelligence agency. There should be clear rules for informants and for stored data. Parliament should watch the agency more closely.

The Greens continue to reject paid informants inside far-right structures because, in their view, this would support the scene. The agency is to improve its analysis of right-wing extremism and inform the public about it. For parliamentary oversight, the platform calls for a controlling unit, more rights for parliamentary groups and fixed reporting duties. Agency staff are to be able to report problems securely and directly to parliament.

The Greens want legal and security policy to pay more attention to victims of crime. Counseling and support services are to be expanded, and agencies are to reach out to victims on their own initiative.

The Greens want to help victims of crime more. There should be more counseling and support. Helpers should reach out to victims themselves. Victims should not be left alone.

Psychosocial support during criminal proceedings is to be strengthened. Victim-offender mediation is to play a bigger role in the future. Courts and police across the state are to be equipped so that witnesses can be questioned by video, as the Code of Criminal Procedure provides.

The Greens see criminal law as a last resort. No one is to be jailed for petty offenses, jail time in place of unpaid fines is to be largely abolished, and the "small amount" of cannabis that goes unprosecuted is to rise to 20 grams.

The Greens want to send fewer people to prison. Small offenses should not lead to jail. People who cannot pay a fine should do community service instead. A larger amount of cannabis should go unpunished.

Legal rules are to ensure that no prison sentences are imposed for petty offenses in the state. The guideline on Section 31a of the Narcotics Act is to be changed so that, until full decriminalization, 20 grams gross weight counts as a small amount. For dumpster diving, meaning taking discarded food, authorities are to act with a sense of proportion. Fines could be worked off through community service, which the platform says gives something back to society. More non-custodial sanctions are meant to reduce detention.

The Greens want the prison system to focus more on reintegration in order to reduce reoffending. This includes more qualified staff, better psychiatric care, a stronger open prison system and a building program for the facilities.

Prisoners should find their way back into society after release. The Greens want to modernize prisons for this. There should be more staff. Prisoners with mental illness should get better help.

A 15-year investment and construction program is to bring modern standards, such as for group housing units, accessibility and aging prisoners; the platform says most facilities date from the early 1900s. A statewide treatment plan for prisoners with mental illness is to be drawn up, along with a criminological service for the prison system. All prisoners are to get eased conditions before release to prepare, and internet access in prison is to be implemented everywhere. An open prison is planned where, for example, employed convicts can be sent directly. A youth welfare home is to be built for juveniles and young adults as an alternative to detention, and youth detention is to stay separate.

The Greens want to better protect victims of far-right violence and give them a right to stay if they lack permanent residence status. The platform sees this as a signal against racist attackers' goal of driving people out of the country.

The Greens want to help victims of far-right violence. Some victims do not have a secure right to live here. They should be allowed to stay in Germany. Victims should also get psychological help and compensation.

The platform calls for guaranteed psychological care and appropriate financial compensation. Police and prosecutors are to be required to point victims to counseling services in the state. Statistics on victims of far-right violence are to be improved, and counseling services are to be expanded.

The Greens see right-wing extremism as the greatest danger to society and want security agencies to make fighting it their top priority. Far-right events are to be monitored and threatened places protected.

The Greens see right-wing extremism as the biggest danger. Police and agencies should fight it first. Authorities should watch far-right concerts. Threatened places should get protection.

The platform regards far-right rock concerts, combat sports events and song evenings as a source of money for the scene. Where they cannot be stopped, security agencies are to monitor them; revenue is to be taxed and disclosed. Spaces of Jewish and migrant communities, clubs and village communities are to remain safe places. In affected towns, the platform calls for police protection, investment in social and youth work and stronger cultural institutions. The Greens declare their support for initiatives doing anti-fascist work.

The Greens want security agencies to get better at detecting far-right networks and violence, up to and including terrorism. Investigators are to gain more social science expertise, and police and the judiciary are to receive targeted training.

The Greens want police and agencies to spot far-right extremists better. The agencies should get more expert knowledge. Police and courts should get more training. This should help solve far-right violent crimes.

According to the platform, agencies should pay more attention to ethnic-nationalist communities and to the European and international links among right-wing extremists. With social science expertise, investigators are to notice early when far-right actors move into schools, newsrooms and similar spaces. The platform criticizes low clearance rates, light sentences and unexecuted arrest warrants for far-right offenders. Training on right-wing extremism and group-focused hostility is meant to counter this.

The Greens demand that the state consistently prosecute illegal content online and that platforms then delete it. Public agencies and civil society groups are to receive funding for the fight against online hate.

The Greens want to fight hate on the internet. The state should prosecute illegal posts. The platforms should then delete these posts. Agencies and groups should get money for this work.

The platform justifies the demand by saying far-right ideology spreads easily through propaganda on social media. Networks such as Facebook are also said to help neo-Nazis connect and radicalize. The Greens call for secure funding to combat online hate, both for public bodies and for nonprofit groups.

The Greens call for stricter gun laws. Identified right-wing radicals are to lose their firearms licenses, semi-automatic weapons are to be banned for private individuals, and private gun ownership is to be checked more strictly.

The Greens want stricter rules for guns. Right-wing radicals should not be allowed to own guns. Private people should not have semi-automatic guns. Officials should check guns and ammunition in homes closely.

The platform points out that the far-right scene calls on its followers to arm themselves. Besides revoking licenses for identified right-wing radicals, applications for firearms licenses are to face stricter rules in general. Private weapons, ammunition stocks and their safe storage are to be checked consistently. Carry permits are to be issued only after an in-person appointment with the authority.

The Greens want to combat money laundering more effectively in order to uncover the financial flows of organized crime. Plans include a stronger coordination office in the state, a cross-agency task force, more staff, and a Bundesrat initiative for a tougher money laundering law.

The Greens want to do more against money laundering. Money laundering means criminals hide where their money comes from. Police, prosecutors and tax investigators should work together more closely. People should be allowed to pay less in cash at once.

The state money laundering coordination office in the finance ministry is to be able to give instructions to the state's other supervisory bodies and report to parliament yearly instead of every two years. Suspicious activity reports from the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) are to be forwarded and processed in a more targeted way. Following North Rhine-Westphalia's model, a task force of prosecutors, police and tax investigators is to be created. The state criminal police office, prosecutors and tax investigators are to get more staff as needed. Through the Bundesrat, the Greens seek lower cash payment limits, stricter reporting duties for notaries and stronger supervision; cooperation with Hamburg, other states and the federal government is to be deepened.