According to a query made by “Stern” and RTL to the interior ministries of all 16 federal states, there are currently at least 193 police officers facing disciplinary proceedings or investigations due to suspected right-wing extremism and/or conspiracy ideology. However, the actual number is likely much higher as North Rhine-Westphalia, Berlin and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern were unable to provide clear figures. For instance, both North Rhine-Westphalia and Berlin report around 80 ongoing disciplinary proceedings, but they cannot always categorize them politically as “right” or “left.”
Since 2020, the research indicates that there have been over 571 disciplinary proceedings or investigations against police officers from the federal states due to suspected right-wing extremism and/or conspiracy ideology. Even though four federal states – North Rhine-Westphalia, Berlin, Thuringia and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern – do not provide reliable statistics. Bavaria’s Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann stated: “Every case is one too many. Officers must uphold the free democratic basic order in line with the constitution through their entire conduct both on and off duty.”
Nordrhein-Westfalia’s Interior Minister Herbert Reul expressed: “I expect everyone to work for the rule of law and preserve democracy. Extremist views have no place here. Anyone who doesn’t understand this should leave.” However, the state no longer categorizes cases according to political direction, as it did last year and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern will only provide current figures in the fourth quarter of this year.