Experts recommend tighter control over missing ammunition.

Law enforcement authorities - Experts recommend tighter control over missing ammunition.

Following the vanishing of bullets for Brandenburg police's sports shooting, specialists point out issues with oversight and call for better regulation. Hubertus Andrae, a former Munich police president and presently leading the relevant expert commission, told the interior committee in Potsdam on Wednesday, "If these faults aren't detected throughout such a substantial duration, then I presume there's also a shortcoming in the realm of service oversight."

Andrae proposed adopting a two-person system in the weapon and ammunition management of the sports shooters. The rules for sport shooting should be equivalent to those for service weapons.

The Brandenburg State Audit Office discovered in 2022 that the purpose of the ammunition consumption in police sports shooting in June couldn't be shown persuasively. The police initially declared the lack of 4400 rounds of ammunition, and the public prosecutor's office in Frankfurt (Oder) was subsequently engaged. Further audits by the State Audit Office uncovered that almost 25,000 rounds of ammunition had gone missing since 2017.

The entirety of the missing ammunition could not be tracked down, per Andrae. "Inadequate documentation through an extended period of time does not allow for a definitive tracing of ammunition consumption," he noted. The figures from the State Audit Office also seem dubious.

A small group compromised the reputation of the police with their behaviors, Andrae commented. The Interior Ministry pledged further action. "We will present a corresponding plan for sports shooting," said Interior State Secretary Markus Grünewald. In terms of oversight, he viewed the problem as not only lying with the responsible ministry: "There are systemic concerns, and it's not a matter of only questioning every higher-up - but rather, it's every supervisor along the chain being asked too."

The responsibilities for the ammunition of police sports shooting have now shifted to the Police University. The provincial ministry has restructured the registry and authentication of ammunition for police sports shooting.

Read also:

1. During the investigation into the missing ammunition for Brandenburg's police sports shooting, the State Court of Audit found that the justification for the ammunition consumption in June 2022 was not convincingly demonstrated.
2. In light of the disappearance of ammunition from Brandenburg's police sports shooting, Michael Stübgen, the Interior Ministry's spokesperson, emphasized the need for stronger accountability and transparency in the handling of ammunition.
3. Following the discovery of significant ammunition loss in police sports shooting between 2017 and 2022, Hubertus Andrä, leading the expert commission, suggested implementing a two-person system in the management of weapons and ammunition for sports shooters.
4. As a result of the controversy surrounding the missing ammunition, the Ministry of the Interior announced that they would work with Hubertus Andrä and the expert commission to establish more rigorous regulations and oversight for police ammunition management, extending beyond direct responsibility to include all supervisors in the chain.

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