What do the parties in North Rhine-Westphalia say on public safety?

The AfD wants to create 10,000 police positions in NRW by 2032, bringing the total to 50,000 employees. It also calls for higher allowances, modern equipment such as body cams and Tasers, and a more visible presence on the streets.

The AfD wants 10,000 new police jobs. By 2032, the police should have 50,000 staff. Officers should get more pay for hard duties. Every patrol car should have a Taser. A Taser is a device that gives electric shocks.

The AfD wants much harsher punishment for attacks on and insults against police officers, emergency responders, and others who serve the public. It regards such acts as an attack on the rule of law.

Anyone who attacks police or rescue workers should get a harder punishment. This also covers attacks on bus drivers and office staff. Insults should be punished too. The AfD says such acts hurt the whole state.

The AfD wants to fight clan crime across all authorities and sets out a four-part list of measures. These include raids and asset seizure, but also deportations and stripping dual nationals of their German passport.

The AfD wants to act harder against criminal clans. There should be more checks and raids. Criminals without a German passport should have to leave. People with two passports should lose the German one.

The AfD wants to require police and prosecutors always to state suspects' nationality and any migration background in press releases. It argues that citizens are entitled to transparent communication from the authorities.

Police and prosecutors should always name where suspects come from. This includes their passport and any migration background. The AfD says citizens have a right to this information. Researchers should also study the topic more closely.

The AfD wants the police to protect Jewish institutions more intensively. It justifies this with a rise in insults and physical attacks against Jewish people, including in North Rhine-Westphalia.

The AfD wants better protection for Jewish institutions. The police should guard them more. The AfD says Jewish people are insulted and attacked more often. This also happens in North Rhine-Westphalia.

The AfD demands action against left-wing extremism through executive, legislative, budgetary and social policy means. The state government should examine and pursue bans on militant left-wing extremist groups. The party also wants to cut ties between the left-wing extremist scene and the youth organizations of the SPD and the Greens.

The AfD wants to act more strongly against left-wing extremism. The state government should check whether violent left-wing groups can be banned. The AfD also sees links to the youth groups of the SPD and the Greens. It wants to ban these links.

The AfD wants only people with a clearly verifiable identity to be allowed to work for private security firms. It argues that asylum seekers can also take the required competence exam, and that many of them entered the country without valid papers.

Private security firms guard buildings and events. The AfD wants only people with a proven identity to work there. The AfD says many asylum seekers have no valid papers. So they should not work in these jobs.

The AfD wants to expand disaster protection in organization and funding and raise the flood protection budget by one third. The money is to come from climate protection funds. Volunteer emergency and rescue workers are to receive a new badge of honor and a bonus.

The AfD wants to spend more money on flood protection. The money should come from climate protection. Storm warnings should reach people better. Sirens should work. Volunteers in fire and rescue services should get a bonus.

The AfD wants activities of Islamic associations that go beyond religion to be monitored, restricted or banned where there is suspicion. Cooperation with the Turkish-backed DITIB would end, and imams would have to commit to the constitution and preach in German. The party holds that Islam, as a force shaping society, does not belong to Germany.

The AfD wants to watch Islamic associations more closely. Groups that oppose the constitution should be banned. Imams should preach in German. Foreign money for mosques should stop.

The CDU wants to grow the police force in North Rhine-Westphalia from around 40,000 to at least 45,000 officers. To that end, 3,000 trainees are to begin their training every year.

The CDU wants more police. Today there are about 40,000 police officers. There should be at least 45,000. For this, 3,000 young people should start training every year.

The CDU wants to run a recruitment campaign to bring career changers and specialists into the police and make the criminal investigation service more attractive to young people. Officers should also be able to gain further qualifications through an additional IT degree.

The police need experts. The CDU wants to advertise for them. People from other jobs should join the police too. Young people should get into detective work faster. Officers should be able to learn extra computer skills.

The CDU wants to create a dedicated strategic search unit at each of the five highway police inspectorates and expand cooperation with neighboring European countries in fighting crime. It also wants to examine mixed investigation teams drawn from several agencies.

The CDU wants new police units on the highways. They should look for criminals there. The police should work more with neighboring countries. Criminals should not be able to hide across the border. Different agencies may investigate together.

The CDU wants security and aid organizations to appear regularly in schools, present their work and recruit young people. Alongside police and fire departments, this includes the Bundeswehr (German armed forces).

Police, firefighters and aid workers should visit schools regularly. The armed forces should come too. They show their work there. They may tell students about jobs with them.

The CDU wants stricter punishment for attacks on emergency and police personnel and better equipment for the police. It rejects mandatory identification badges for officers. In the party's view, tougher penalties act as a deterrent.

The CDU wants tougher penalties for attacks on police officers. The police should get better equipment. Officers should not have to wear a name tag or number. The CDU says strict penalties scare off offenders.

The CDU wants to pursue crime on the internet with specialized officers known as cybercops. It also wants to modernize police technology and make criminal investigation more digital.

The CDU wants special police officers for the internet. They are called cybercops. They should look for crimes online. The police should also get better computers.

The CDU wants to require social networks and messaging services to provide information in cases of hate crime and other offenses. Those who stir up hatred or call for violence online should not be able to rely on anonymity, the party says.

Some people spread hate on the internet. The CDU wants social networks to give information to the police in such cases. Offenders should not be able to hide. Hate crimes should also be counted separately.

The CDU wants to introduce the Online-Durchsuchung (covert remote searches of suspects' data). At the federal level, it wants to put traffic data retention on a firm legal footing and extend retention periods to six months.

Police should be allowed to secretly search the data of suspects. Phone and internet companies should store connection data for six months. The CDU says this helps police solve more crimes.

The CDU wants to keep fighting criminal clans and organized crime with heavy checks and prosecution pressure. New legal tools are to be added, such as reversing the burden of proof for assets of unclear origin.

The CDU wants to be strict with criminal clans. Police should carry out many checks. People who cannot explain where their money comes from could lose it. Young people should get help to leave clans.

The CDU wants to step up the fight against ATM bombings, which the program says have risen sharply. It relies on cross-border cooperation and technical safeguards in the machines.

Criminals blow up cash machines more and more often. The CDU wants to stop this. Police should work with neighboring countries. Banknotes should become useless when a machine is blown up.

The CDU wants to expand the staff and technology of the Verfassungsschutz (domestic intelligence agency) and revise the law governing it. Extremist structures are to be broken up through bans on associations and prosecution, complemented by more prevention.

The Verfassungsschutz watches enemies of democracy. The CDU wants to give it more staff and better technology. Extremist groups should be banned. Children and young people should get help early.

The CDU wants to expand municipalities' responsibility for public safety. Cities and towns are to get a legal basis for video surveillance in public spaces, and municipal enforcement officers are to get better working conditions.

Cities should be able to do more for safety. They should be allowed to watch public places with cameras. Municipal enforcement staff should get better working conditions. Police and city offices should work together more closely.

After the flood disaster of July 2021, the CDU wants to reorganize disaster protection. Plans include a permanent command staff at the state level, binding needs planning in the counties, and more reliable warning systems.

In summer 2021 there was a severe flood. The CDU wants to prepare the state better for disasters. There should be more and newer sirens. The state should get a permanent crisis team.

The CDU wants to equip fire services and aid organizations with more modern tools and expand volunteers' rights by law. It points out that volunteers provide more than 90 percent of fire protection in the state.

Many people volunteer with the fire service. The CDU wants to give them more rights. They should get time off work more easily. The fire service should get modern technology.

The CDU wants to expand criminal prosecution in the digital sphere and make prosecutors' offices more specialized. The central unit ZAC NRW is to become a nationally leading center against cybercrime. The platform justifies this with the large volume of damage and the professionalism of offenders.

The CDU wants to fight crime on the internet better. A special justice unit should grow for this. It is called ZAC NRW. Prosecutors should get more experts. There should also be special departments, for example for crimes against older people.

The CDU wants IP addresses to be stored for half a year so that investigators can link them to individuals in cases of serious crime. Disclosure is to happen only by court order. In the platform's view, offenders online usually cannot be identified without this link.

Every device on the internet has an IP address. It is a kind of number. The CDU wants these numbers stored for six months. In serious crimes, the police should get them. A court must allow this first.

In the fight against organized crime, the CDU wants to fully reverse the burden of proof when the origin of assets is unclear. Investigators are also to get expanded legal options for undercover work and surveillance.

The CDU wants to fight crime gangs harder. People with a lot of money of unclear origin should prove where it came from. Otherwise the state can take the money. Investigators should also get more options for surveillance.

The CDU opposes legalizing illegal drugs. It cites health risks for individuals as well as consequences for families and society.

The CDU does not want to allow banned drugs. It says drugs harm people's health. They also harm families and society.

The CDU wants to give crime victims more support and widen the network of support facilities. Criminal proceedings are to move faster. Under the platform's principle, protecting victims takes priority over protecting offenders.

The CDU wants to help crime victims more. There should be more places that offer help. Criminal trials should go faster. For the CDU, victims matter more than offenders.

The CDU wants to build two new prisons to ensure enough prison places. At the same time, inmates are to get more support during and after their sentence so they can live crime-free afterward.

The CDU wants to build two new prisons. This should make sure there are enough places. Prisoners should get support while in prison. After prison, they should get help with housing and work.

The CDU wants to make it easier to identify and prosecute child abusers online. It calls for registration with a German mobile number for services with chat functions and a duty for platforms to check user content for abuse material and report it. According to the platform, child protection should take priority over data protection.

The CDU wants to find offenders online more easily. People who chat in apps or games should sign up with a German cell phone number. Platforms should check content for images of abuse. They should report what they find to investigators. For the CDU, protecting children matters more than data privacy.

The CDU wants to strengthen European foreign and security policy as a whole. Police and courts in the member states are to cooperate more closely by digital means, and Europol is to be expanded.

The CDU wants more security in Europe. Police and courts in EU countries should work together better digitally. Europol is the EU's police agency. The state will keep sending officers there.

The FDP wants to strengthen programs that help people leave extremist structures. Such services should also reach people in clan crime and the Querdenker (COVID-skeptic) scene who have so far been out of reach for state agencies.

Some people end up in extreme groups. Getting out is often hard. The FDP wants to strengthen programs that help with this. This should also cover criminal clans and the Querdenker scene.

The FDP wants security policy not to come at the expense of the fundamental rights of law-abiding citizens. It rejects the Staatstrojaner, meaning government spyware on private devices. At the same time, it wants a state under the rule of law that acts firmly against extremism, terrorism and organized crime.

The FDP wants to protect safety and freedom together. The state should not spy on innocent people. The FDP rejects the Staatstrojaner. That is government spy software for phones and computers. Still, the state should act firmly against criminals.

The FDP wants to raise annual police hiring to 3,000, provided there are enough suitable applicants. This is meant to ease the heavy workload on officers. In addition, dropout rates in police training are to be lowered and a teaching bonus introduced for officers who train recruits.

The police in the state have a lot of work. The FDP wants to hire 3,000 new officers every year. This applies if there are enough good applicants. Fewer people should drop out of police studies. Officers who train young colleagues should get extra pay.

The FDP wants to keep police recruit numbers high and bring more specialists and career changers into the force. It points to rising professional demands on the police. It also wants to make specialization and promotion within the police easier.

The FDP wants to train many new police officers. Experts from other jobs should be able to join the police too. Officers should find it easier to specialize. Moving up in the police should become simpler.

The FDP wants to make the office of the Polizeibeauftragte (police commissioner) more independent and have the state parliament fill it in the future. The police complaints system is to be developed further. The party backs rotating ID markings for officers in closed units only under one condition.

The police have a commissioner. Police officers can turn to this person. The FDP wants the state parliament to elect this person. Complaints from citizens should also be handled better.

The FDP wants to improve lifetime working-time accounts for police, fire, and rescue services and modernize the system of allowances. It sees this as a sign of appreciation and a way to make public service more attractive.

Emergency workers do a lot of overtime. The FDP wants these hours saved in an account. Extra pay should also be brought up to date. This applies to police, fire, and rescue services.

The FDP wants to examine where tasks of the county police authorities can be pooled without reducing the police on the ground. The minimum number of officers in rural counties is to rise.

The FDP wants the police to be visible in the countryside too. Rural counties should get more police officers. Some tasks should be handled together in one place. But local police should not shrink.

The FDP wants to speed up the digitization of police work and train officers broadly for it. Digital processes are meant to cut paperwork and free up staff for duty on the ground. More technology and personnel are planned for law enforcement online.

The police should get modern computers and digital tools. That means less paperwork. Officers then have more time for work on the street. The police should also get stronger against crime on the internet.

The FDP wants to equip all county police authorities in NRW with tasers right away. It points out that, based on experience so far, attacks on officers drop sharply through the deterrent effect alone.

A taser is a device that stops people with electric shocks. The FDP wants police all over NRW to get tasers. This should happen right away. The FDP says officers are then attacked less often.

The FDP wants to continue the cross-agency approach against organized crime and criminal clans and combine it with prevention. Financial investigations are to be strengthened so that assets of unexplained origin can be confiscated.

The FDP wants to keep cracking down on criminal gangs and clans. Many agencies should work together. Children should be protected from these groups. Investigators should look more closely at the criminals' money.

The FDP wants to step up both prevention and prosecution of extremism and politically motivated violence. Studies of unreported crime are meant to capture such offenses better. Extremism in public service is to be pursued consistently without placing the police under blanket suspicion.

The FDP wants to do more against extremism, racism, and hatred of Jews. Studies should show how many such crimes really happen. Police and courts should learn more about hatred of Jews. Right-wing extremists in the police should be pursued.

The FDP wants a fundamental review of how federal and state security agencies cooperate against terrorism and extremism, and wants a third federalism commission set up for this. The counter-terrorism database is to be shut down because the party considers it unsuccessful.

Germany has up to 40 security agencies. The FDP wants to check how well they work together. A commission of the federal and state governments should do this. The FDP wants to shut down the counter-terrorism database.

The FDP wants to strengthen the Verfassungsschutz (domestic intelligence service) in NRW through redesigned training and more experts. At the same time, a parliamentary commissioner for the service is to improve oversight by the state parliament without limiting the agency's ability to work.

The domestic intelligence service watches extremists. The FDP wants to train its staff better. There should be a special degree program for this. The state parliament should be able to check the service better. A special commissioner should help with that.

The FDP calls on the federal government to carry out a full review of gun law. In its view, the latest tightening burdened legal gun owners such as hunters and sport shooters with needless red tape. People deemed dangerous and extremists should not be allowed to have guns.

The FDP wants the federal government to rework gun law. Hunters and sport shooters should face less red tape. Extremists and dangerous people should not own guns. Agencies should share data better for this.

The FDP wants to train and equip municipal public order services better and expand cooperation with the police across the state. The services are to be available at night and on weekends as well.

Cities and towns have their own public order services. The FDP wants to train and equip them better. They should work more closely with the police. They should also be on duty at night and on weekends.

The FDP wants to put disaster protection on a broader footing because it expects more floods and wildfires as well as risks from hazardous substances and attacks on critical infrastructure. Volunteer work in fire brigades and aid organizations is to be strengthened.

The FDP wants the state to be better prepared for disasters. These include floods and wildfires. Warnings to the public should get better. Volunteers in the fire brigade should get more support.

The FDP wants to replace the term "child pornography" in the Criminal Code because, in its view, the word trivializes abuse. It also wants to expand prevention services for people with pedophilic tendencies.

The law uses the term "child pornography." The FDP thinks this term sounds too harmless. It wants a different term in the law. It also wants more help for people with pedophilic tendencies. This should stop crimes before they happen.

Violence against public sector employees should be consistently prosecuted in every office. Those affected should be able to demand that their employer file a criminal complaint on their behalf.

Some people attack or insult government employees. The FDP wants such acts to always be prosecuted. The employer should file the complaint if the employee wishes. Those affected should not have to give their home address.

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.

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 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 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.

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 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 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 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 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.

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 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.

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.

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.

The SPD puts strong emphasis on prevention in security policy. Programs against youth crime and extremism are to be expanded, local prevention councils strengthened, and dark places better lit.

The SPD wants to stop crimes before they happen. Programs against youth crime and extremism should grow. In cities, police, public offices and charities should work together more closely. Dark places should get more light.

The SPD wants to act against right-wing extremism and unlawful violence within the police. To do so, it plans an independent complaints office and the post of a state police commissioner.

The SPD wants no right-wing extremists in the police. Unlawful violence by police officers should also have consequences. There should be an independent office for complaints. A commissioner should look into such cases. Police officers can turn to this person too.

The SPD wants to increase police staffing and raise police presence in neighborhoods. Officers are to be better equipped, especially digitally, and violence against emergency personnel is always to go to court.

The SPD wants to hire more police officers. The police should be easier to see in neighborhoods. They should get better technology. Anyone who attacks emergency workers should always be reported.

The SPD wants to base security policy more firmly on scientific findings. It plans a regular security report, an institute for security research and an independent expert advisory council.

The SPD wants to know more about crime. Many crimes are never reported. A regular report should give a clearer picture. A new institute should do research on security. Experts should advise the state parliament and the government.

The SPD wants to devote more staff to prosecuting organized crime and target its money above all. Money laundering is to be fought with more inspections, and illegal assets consistently confiscated.

The SPD wants to act harder against organized criminals. Above all it wants to take away their money. For this there should be more checks and more tax investigators. Many public offices should work together. Environmental crimes should also be pursued more.

The SPD wants to make train stations safer and more attractive, saying many are perceived as places of fear. It plans station supervisors as a point of contact and permanent weapons-ban zones around major stations.

Many people feel unsafe at train stations. The SPD wants to change that. Stations should have supervisors who help passengers. Weapons should be banned for good around big stations.

The SPD wants to step up the fight against political and religious extremism and strengthen the police and the Verfassungsschutz (domestic intelligence service) for that purpose. The platform sees right-wing extremism as the greatest current threat to democracy. Extremists are to be barred from owning weapons.

The SPD wants to do more against extremists. Extremists reject democracy. The police and the domestic intelligence service should become stronger. Extremists should not be allowed to have weapons. The SPD sees the biggest danger in right-wing extremists.

The SPD wants to fight hate crime and the spread of hateful slogans much harder, especially online. Security agencies are to get more staff and platform operators are to be held more accountable. The platform argues that incitement is often the first step toward physical violence.

The SPD wants to do more against hate on the internet. The police and the domestic intelligence service should get more staff. Companies like Facebook or YouTube should also do more. They should delete hate messages faster. The SPD says hate speech often leads to violence.

The SPD wants to step up prevention of extremism. The "Wegweiser" program, so far aimed at Islamism, is to cover every form of extremism in the future. Its existing contact points are to become prevention centers.

The SPD wants to stop extremism early. There is a program called "Wegweiser". So far it deals with Islamism. In the future it should cover every kind of extremism. The contact points should become prevention centers.

After the pandemic and the 2021 flood, the SPD wants to rebuild civil protection in North Rhine-Westphalia. Municipalities are to get lasting additional funding and organizational help, fire departments and aid organizations are to be better equipped, and public warning systems are to be expanded.

The SPD wants to prepare the state better for disasters. Towns and districts should get more money and help. Fire departments and helpers should get modern equipment. People should be warned faster. Sirens, apps and phone alerts are used for this.

The SPD wants more staff, better pay and faster construction and modernization in the prison system. Reintegration of offenders is to be strengthened through a rehabilitation law. Community service is to take priority over jail time served in place of unpaid fines.

The SPD wants more staff in prisons. Staff should get more pay. Prisoners should find their way back into life after prison. A new law should help with this. People who cannot pay a fine should do community work instead of going to jail.

The SPD wants to organize victim protection statewide and across ministries. A foundation is to compensate crime victims when other statutory benefits fall short. For children and teenagers who have suffered violence, centers for child-friendly questioning are to be created.

The SPD wants to help crime victims more. A foundation should be able to pay them money. This applies when other help is not enough. There should be special houses for children. There they are questioned in a child-friendly way.