Bundestag set to launch study on racism in Germany’s national security forces

Germany's federal government is planning to launch a study looking at racist tendencies among national police.

The interior and justice ministries are currently in the conceptual development of a study that would probe “racial profiling in the police,” the ministry's spokesperson in Berlin said on Thursday. The study will obtain “well-founded'” information on the targeting of ethnic minorities by law enforcement and discuss possible countermeasures.

Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) chairwoman Saskia Esken claimed on Thursday that Germany, too, has “latent racism in the ranks of the security forces.” She said that such a phenomenon must be recognized and combated by measures taken by the central leadership. She advocated setting up an independent office that would look into complaints against police performance and called for an overhaul of excessive violence and racism by officers. However, German police unions denied the allegations.

The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) published a report earlier this year which noted that Germany had flaws in the fight against discrimination. The global Black Lives Matter movement has prompted a debate over the level of racism in German police forces.