SPD on public safety

The SPD wants to give the state Office for the Protection of the Constitution (domestic intelligence agency) more staff and better technology. At the same time, parliamentary oversight is to be expanded with a permanent commissioner. Premises where hate or violence is incited are to be closed.

The domestic intelligence agency watches enemies of democracy. The SPD wants to give it more staff and better technology. The state parliament should also be able to check the agency more closely.

The agency should be able to detect extremism, terrorism, espionage, cyberattacks and influence by foreign autocracies early on. Besides investment in equipment and operational capacity, the SPD considers modern premises for the agency necessary. A permanent commissioner would support the parliamentary oversight committee on an ongoing basis and examine matters on its behalf. The platform sees right-wing extremism as the greatest threat. As an example of places to be closed, it names Islamist prayer rooms where violence is incited.

The SPD wants to raise allowances for police officers and improve promotion prospects to the higher service grade. The police should reflect the diversity of society, so women and people with a migration background are to be recruited in a targeted way. A service regulation is to address sexual harassment within the police.

The SPD wants to pay police officers better. More women and people with migrant roots should join the police. Police staff should get help with mental stress. There should be clear rules against sexual harassment.

The general allowance and the allowance for situation-based duty are to be increased. Psychosocial support for police staff is to be broadly set up with enough personnel. A service regulation would govern how sexual harassment is handled, with defined reporting channels and a timeline for next steps. People who expose wrongdoing are to be protected.

The SPD wants to secure shorter emergency response times and invest in new ambulance stations. For disaster protection it plans a central state office, a state emergency fund and a siren network run by the state. The platform cites the rise in extreme weather caused by climate change.

Ambulances should reach emergencies faster. The SPD wants to pay for new ambulance stations. The state should prepare better for disasters like floods. A new office should manage fire and disaster protection. There should be more sirens.

The state is to help cover the investment need calculated by the rescue organizations and also support fire departments. Effective legal supervision is meant to secure response times, and smartphone alerts for first responders are to be implemented and funded everywhere. Investments are planned in flood protection, heavy-rain management and bridge inspections. A state emergency fund would replace small-scale funding programs. Also planned are a competence center for inclusive disaster preparedness, equal rights for all emergency personnel, and protective vests for officials such as bailiffs.

The SPD wants to hire 80 additional public prosecutors and extend fast-track criminal proceedings across the state. All local courts (Amtsgerichte) are to be kept. The justice system is to pay better and be modernized digitally.

The SPD wants to hire 80 new prosecutors. Criminal cases should move faster. All local courts in the state should stay. The courts should get better computer technology. Young lawyers should earn more money.

Fast-track proceedings are to apply throughout Baden-Württemberg, and the Offenburg model for prosecuting offenses against police, firefighters and rescue workers is to be used statewide. A specialized prosecutor's office for right-wing extremism is planned. The pact for the rule of law agreed with the federal government is to be implemented, including stronger court registries. The first two steps of the entry pay scale for judges and prosecutors would be skipped, the allowance for legal trainees raised, and law students would receive a bachelor's degree under certain conditions. Investments in IT, training and electronic case files are also planned, with an extension of e-files to bailiffs under review.

The SPD wants to create Häuser des Jugendrechts (juvenile justice centers) in all 17 regional court districts, where authorities work together on youth crime. In the prison system, more staff, more rehabilitation and renovated facilities are to follow. The platform points to overcrowding, drug smuggling, mental illness and radicalization in prisons.

The SPD wants juvenile justice centers across the state. There, police, prosecutors and youth services work together. Prisons should get more staff. Prisoners should be better prepared for a life without crime. Old prisons should be renovated.

Victim-offender mediation and open forms of custody are to be expanded to give young people a chance at a life without crime. Staffing in prisons is to be increased. Handling mental illness and deradicalization are to get more weight. Probation services would receive additional positions. Facilities are to be renovated, modernized and rebuilt where needed, for example the prison hospital.

The SPD rejects the use of Palantir's analysis software by police and security agencies. Analysis platforms should only be used if their use can be audited and the state alone has control over the data.

Police can use programs that analyze large amounts of data. The SPD sets strict rules for this. Humans must always check the analysis. Only the state may control the data. The SPD rejects software from the company Palantir.

If agencies use analysis platforms for investigations, every use should be traceable and auditable. Humans should oversee the entire analysis process at all times. Personal data of victims and witnesses should not be processed. Any outflow of data should be ruled out and prevented in a technically verifiable way. Because the SPD believes Palantir does not meet these conditions, it rejects the software.