Public search
The public search is a search tool for the search for people or things by law enforcement authorities , less often by the judiciary or by private individuals with the help of the population .
intention
With the help of the media, an attempt is made to address a large group of people and encourage them to help. The aim is to investigate the crime (determination of the crime and perpetration ). As a rule, it is only used in cases where there is or is likely to be a major public interest in prosecution.
Rewards are also offered after the commission of serious crimes or prison breaks . For the most part, this involves the search for people, the search for people ; Most of the time, suspects or convicted criminals are searched for, more rarely witnesses or missing persons . Very often the wanted persons already have an enforceable - open - arrest warrant or an alert to determine their whereabouts .
execution
The public manhunt is mainly done through the involvement of the mass media , e.g. B. through announcements on the radio , in television broadcasts (news, file number XY ... unsolved , etc.). Other types are the posting of wanted posters , calls for witnesses (notices) or publication on the Internet . The police also make loudspeaker announcements after serious criminal offenses.
Large-scale home surveys by the police are also a means of public search.
history
The first search by television took place on November 7, 1938 in Berlin . It was organized by the Berlin investigator Ernst Gennat after the murder of a taxi driver .
In the case of the kidnapping of Joachim Göhner in Stuttgart-Degerloch in April 1958 , two weeks after the body was found, the German police published the recorded voice of the perpetrator on the radio for the first time , which ultimately led to the killer being arrested.
Legal classification
In Germany public searches are standardized in Section 131a of the Code of Criminal Procedure . The order of searches according to § 131a Abs. 3 and § 131b StPO may only be ordered by the judge , in the case of imminent danger also by the public prosecutor and their investigators. Searches in accordance with Section 131a Paragraphs 1 and 2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure require an order from the public prosecutor's office; in the event of imminent danger, they may also be ordered by their investigators ( Section 131c StPO).
With the Criminal Procedure Amendment Act of 1999 (StVÄG), public investigations according to § 131 StPO were comprehensively reformed. This resulted in today's §§ 131 - 131c StPO, which now correspond to the constitutional and criminal procedural requirements. Since then, encroachment on the right to informational self-determination as an outflow of personal rights has been legally unobjectionable. Since the reform, detailed regulations for investigative measures, special powers to intervene instead of a general clause , as well as the admissibility and limits of criminal processing of personal data have been regulated on a specific area basis.
Briefly explained, § 131 StPO regulates the admissibility of search measures and especially the public search for the purpose of arresting a person known by name. Section 131a of the Code of Criminal Procedure regulates search measures and, in particular, public searches for the purpose of determining the whereabouts and establishing the identity. Section 131b StPO regulates the insertion of images (photos, videos, phantom images ) in the event of a public search . § 131c StPO the authority to order public searches .
For public manhunts to preventive / police laws / danger mitigating legal purposes exist in the states of different regulations.
literature
- New journal for criminal law NStZ, title: On the Criminal Procedure Amendment Act 1999 (StVÄG 1999) Part 1 & 2, year 2000 (issue 11) pages 561–565 & year 2001 (issue 1) pages 15–19, author: Ministerialdirektor a. D. Dr. Hans Hilger
- SK-StPO - Systematic Commentary on the Criminal Procedure Code with GVG and ECHR, 2016, Volume II of X, ISBN 9783452280732 , Carl-Heymanns Verlag, 5th edition, Author: Prof. Dr. Hans-Ullrich Paeffgen
- Karlsruhe Commentary on the Code of Criminal Procedure , GVG, EGGVG; 2003, 6th edition, ISBN 3406497985 , CHBeck Verlag, author: Karlheinz, Boujong
