Linke on public safety

The Left wants to strengthen rehabilitation, reintegration and alternatives to prison and to achieve the abolition of imprisonment for unpaid fines via the Bundesrat. Thuringia's prisons are to do without firearms and guarantee single cells.

People who do not pay a fine must go to prison today. The Left wants to end that. Prisoners should get more help for life after prison. There should be no more guns in prisons.

The prison service and its social, psychological and medical services are to get considerably more staff. The prison code is to be reviewed thoroughly and transition management for released prisoners expanded, with more money for social providers. From 2025, every prisoner is to be housed in a single cell everywhere. Giving up firearms is to be coordinated with staff representatives. Victim-offender mediation is to be offered statewide and funded more strongly.

The Left wants to fight far-right structures with all official means, up to and including bans. Plans include a specialized prosecutor's office for hate crime, tougher action against far-right rock concerts and a plan against properties used by the scene.

The Left wants stronger action against neo-Nazis. Authorities should ban far-right groups where the law allows it. A special prosecutor's office should pursue hate crimes. Victims of far-right violence should get more protection.

The platform justifies this with Thuringia's special responsibility because of the NSU terror network. Neo-Nazi money flows are to be tracked more closely and assets confiscated in a more targeted way. A master plan is to bring all authorities together against far-right properties. A dedicated parliamentary inquiry is to shed further light on far-right networks and terror, and an archive for the NSU files is to be created. Victims of far-right, racist and antisemitic violence are to get more rights and safe spaces in proceedings. Against conspiracy myths, the party plans guides, staff training and school lessons.

The Left wants to abolish Thuringia's Office for the Protection of the Constitution. It considers the need for an agency organized as an intelligence service unproven and wants to fund research institutions on democracy and civil society more strongly instead.

The Left wants to abolish Thuringia's Verfassungsschutz. That is a domestic intelligence service. The party thinks it is not needed. It would rather fund research on democracy.

In the party's view, neither social nor security reasons show that such a domestic intelligence service is needed. Instead, institutions working on a scientific basis are to receive more funding. Their research and documentation findings are to feed more strongly into the work of the state government.

The Left wants to turn the existing police ombuds office into a stand-alone complaints and investigation authority outside the police. Police officers themselves should also be able to file complaints there. In addition, the requirement for officers to wear identification is to be enforced consistently.

Today there is an office for complaints about the police. The Left wants to turn it into its own agency. This agency should not be part of the police. It should be able to investigate on its own. Police officers should also be able to complain there.

The police ombuds office, so far used by members of the public, would also accept complaints from within the police. It would be removed from police structures and given powers of its own. To do this, the Left wants to amend the state's police organization law and launch a Bundesrat initiative to adjust the powers of the states. The identification requirement introduced in 2017 is to be enforced consistently so that people affected by police violence can identify possible perpetrators.

The Left wants to secure reliable staffing for Thuringia's police with a ten-year concept. This is paired with better allowances, promotion and career prospects, modernized training and a lighter day-to-day workload.

The Left wants a staffing plan for the police. The plan should cover ten years. Open jobs should be filled faster. Police officers should get better allowances and better chances to move up. Training should become more modern.

The concept is meant to end the yearly disputes over trainee numbers and allow forward-looking hiring. Tasks that require no sovereign powers would go to administrative staff, and career changers and outside specialists, for example in IT, would get easier access. The plan includes higher-grade positions for employees under collective agreements, a revised hardship allowance regulation, allowances for unsocial hours raised to the federal level, and a regulated path to the second promotion grade. The police training facilities are to become the "PolizeibildungsCampus 2030," with free housing for trainees. Health programs, more family-friendly shift work, secure IT structures and modernized police buildings are also planned.

The Left wants to align police law more closely with civil rights and allow new powers only where they are necessary and proportionate. A police committee in the state parliament would oversee covert police work. The use of pepper spray is to be restricted.

The Left wants to change police law. The rights of citizens should count for more. A new committee in the state parliament should oversee the police. This applies mostly to undercover work. Police should use pepper spray only when there is real danger.

The committee would mainly oversee the use of informants and undercover investigators. Existing police powers would be reviewed for effectiveness and necessity. Because of its health risks, pepper spray would be allowed only to fend off immediate danger to people or to property of considerable value, and the use of so-called pain compliance holds would be regulated. Mandatory continuing training for all officers is also planned. Municipalities would get support in checking how weapons and ammunition are stored and in revoking permits after violations.

The Left wants to end racial profiling, meaning police checks based on outward traits such as skin color. To that end, powers in the state's police law that the party sees as encouraging such checks would be removed. People who are stopped would receive a receipt in the future.

Sometimes police stop people only because of how they look. This is called racial profiling. The Left wants to end it. Police should no longer stop people without a reason. Anyone who is stopped should get a receipt.

The platform notes that courts have ruled this practice unlawful. Police training and continuing education would add content on racism, discrimination and human rights. Powers that promote racial profiling would be removed from the police law. The power to carry out checks without cause in so-called danger zones would also be dropped. A receipt system for police checks would apply statewide.

The Left wants to secure the readiness of fire departments across the state, especially in small towns. To do so, it plans to revise the fire and disaster protection law, strengthen volunteering and modernize the state fire service school.

The Left wants to strengthen fire departments. Firefighters should be able to help quickly in small towns too. Towns should work together more on this. Volunteer firefighters should get more support. The fire service school in Bad Köstritz should be modernized.

Municipalities would cooperate more closely on fire services, and paid support in specific spots, such as funded equipment managers, would be examined. In the law, a simpler and legally sound system would replace the current way of calculating fire service costs so that municipalities can bill their full expenses. The control center reform would be completed, alerting switched to digital, procurement further centralized and funding rates raised. The membership campaign with the firefighters' association would become permanent, with added incentives such as free admission to public facilities. The school in Bad Köstritz would be renewed in its buildings and digital teaching, and decentralized basic training would become possible.