For the permanent border controls to all neighboring countries demanded by Union’s Chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz (CDU) to require, according to the Police Union (GdP), up to 10,000 additional federal police officers.
The GdP’s chief for the federal police, Andreas Roßkopf, told the “Rheinische Post”(Tuesday edition): “Certainly, 8,000 to 10,000 additional personnel would be needed to control the border comprehensively.”
Roßkopf added that it would be “absolutely necessary”for the federal police to be reinforced in terms of personnel and equipment. “The reserve police is already supporting the border control with around 1,000 colleagues every week.”
Immediate improvements are also needed in modern technology, such as camera surveillance with drones and number plate recognition. “Modern and flexible border controls are hardly present”, Roßkopf said further. The GdP has been demanding a modern and flexible border protection “with the involvement of modern tools”since 2017. “Unfortunately, almost nothing has happened so far. This needs to change”, the trade union official said.