College of Practical Studies - A police report about lost weapons prompts a conversation.
A report on missing firearms at the Police University has created a buzz in state politics. Interior Minister Tamara Zieschang (CDU) told the government meeting in the state legislature, "I can't validate the claim that 90 guns went missing from the Police University."
Media outlets reported an internal letter from the Police University to the State Criminal Police Office (LKA) stating that the location of various pistols, revolvers, and automatic rifles was uncertain. Ex-workers from the university in charge of storing guns were questioned for clarification.
Previous audits from the State Audit Office found substantial issues with the weapons inventory in the teaching collection at the Police University in Aschersleben. "There's a considerable safety risk," they said, referring to both firearms and non-firearms. The collection was established in 1997 and used for training purposes.
Since then, any guns given to the Police University by the LKA are being thoroughly examined, according to Zieschang. However, in 2000, the Interior Ministry instructed that the teaching collection at the Police University be pared down to only 18 guns. "All other weapons were to be given to the Technical Police Department for destruction," Zieschang added during the state parliament session.
But previous inspections by the Technical Police Department in the first half of 2000 revealed that the collection had grown to resemble an arms showcase. Hence, the decision was made to reduce the number of guns to 18. It's unknown how many of the remaining guns were transported to the Technical Police Department. The others could now be missing from the Police University, said Zieschang.
The Interior Committee of the State Parliament is scheduled for a special meeting on Thursday. These developments are part of larger issues surrounding the storage of evidence in the Asservatenverwaltung. Recent revelations about the mismanagement of the comparison weapons collection, also used for training, have surfaced. In the last few years, 274 weapons, supposed to be destroyed by the prosecution, have not been.
