Internal blog post - Reul: The new police liaison officer will have little to do
The planned police commissioner at the state parliament, as seen from Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU), will receive only a few cases. Regarding the low rate of justified complaints about police interventions, Reul wrote in the police internal "Minister blog": "Among us: Therefore, I expect that the work of the police commissioner will rather provide evidence of your good work and strengthen trust in the police in North Rhine-Westphalia even further."
The law for the independent police commissioner at the state parliament was recently introduced in the plenum by the government factions of CDU and Greens. Citizens and employees can turn to this special institution in the most populous federal state for complaints or inquiries in the future.
So far, there is a police commissioner who is located at the Interior Ministry. Citizens can already contact him if they have complaints about police interventions in their opinion. In his internal blog post, which is available to the dpa, Reul quotes the latest complaint report of the current police commissioner: "In 2022, only about 4,700 complaints were received there – around 550 of them were classified as partly justified or justified. With over 5 million police interventions in 2022, we are talking about justified criticism in 0.01% of the cases. And these are systematically processed."
CDU and Greens had agreed on the appointment of the commissioner at the state parliament in their coalition agreement. Above all, it was a matter of the heart for the Greens. Before the commissioner is actually elected by the parliament and begins work, several months will still pass. The law is expected to be passed against the end of the year after a hearing of experts.
Reul emphasized in his blog with a reference to the Federation and other states: "Things that were good were taken over in North Rhine-Westphalia – but it was not simply stripped." It is particularly important to him that the North Rhine-Westphalia police commissioner "has significantly fewer powers than, for example, the one at the federal level."
The North Rhine-Westphalia commissioner may not enter police stations without prior registration to conduct his own investigations. And: "Unlike the federal police commissioner, access to personnel files will be taboo for the North Rhine-Westphalia police commissioner," so Reul.
- Despite Interior Minister Herbert Reul's expectation, the upcoming police commissioner at the State Parliament, appointed by the CDU and Greens, might still provide evidence of their work and further strengthen trust in the North Rhine-Westphalia Police, as stated in the minister's latest blog post.
- With the new law for an independent police commissioner at the state parliament, citizens and employees can soon turn to this special institution for complaints or inquiries in North Rhine-Westphalia, especially in Düsseldorf.
- Contrary to the federal-level police commissioner, the North Rhine-Westphalia commissioner, once appointed, will have significantly fewer powers, such as not being able to enter police stations without prior registration for investigations or access personnel files, as outlined by Herbert Reul.
- In the recent CDU and Greens coalition agreement, they agreed on the appointment of the police commissioner at the state parliament, with the Greens especially advocating for this measure in North Rhine-Westphalia.
