Use of weapons by the police in Germany

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article or section needs to be revised. Details should be given on the talk page. Please help to improve it , and then remove this flag.

Property protection by German police officers in Hamburg . Since terrorist attacks are also feared, the officers can be equipped with submachine guns.

As the use of weapons is the application of direct force by the police weapons , which in most cases the use of firearms and the use of baton and pepper spray is meant. Aids of physical violence, described under Immediate Coercion, are to be distinguished . In addition to the immediate coercion, there is self-defense (which specifically includes the final rescue shot as a form of emergency aid) and the warning shot as legally regulated forms of firearm use.

Firearms use

Police officers regularly practice the use of firearms according to the situation. This is done using videos or slide projections in weapons and shooting training as part of police training . Above all, this automates the decision-making process and the shooting sequence ("weapon handling") . The final rescue shot is a killing of an aggressor to get another life. For the civil servant, this implies not only the legal requirements (weighing up) but also a considerable ethical problem.

The threat is intended to make the person concerned aware of the risk they are taking if they do not change their behavior. The aim of the threat of "immediate coercion" is therefore to avoid coercion. Any threat also legally requires the requirements for the (targeted) use of firearms as such. This includes the suitability, necessity and proportionality of this choice of immediate coercion. In legal assessments, the choice of police atypical means is considered necessary in individual cases in order to avoid the use of firearms.

“The firearm may only be used if other, less drastic measures have been used unsuccessfully or do not promise any success; it should always be the last resort. "

- Martin Wagner : For life and death. The Basic Law and the “final rescue shot”, 1992

The aim of using a firearm is u. a. the prevention of the escape of suspects or prisoners and the averting of current concrete dangers that pose a significant threat to life or limb (e.g. rampage ). Here, the addressee of the measure can be physically damaged, e.g. B. by a leg shot. However, this does not always have to be the case - the firearm can also be used against things (shot in the tires of a fleeing vehicle) or as a threat ( warning shot ).

While the prerequisites for the subsequent use of firearms must already exist for the person to be able to issue warning shots, so-called signal or alarm shots, on the other hand, serve to alert other forces or to signal one's own position.

The use of firearms by the police is usually standardized by law (in many federal states by state police law ). In the federal states in which the use of firearms is not regulated by law, z. B. the right of self-defense , emergency aid or the general police clause . As a rule, the criminal police moves to the scene of the incident when an official has used a firearm on duty.

statistics

The number of those killed by armed force by the police is officially published by the Federal Ministry of the Interior . The number of those actually killed through the use of weapons sometimes exceeds the figures given here, as not all fatal shots appeared in the press and in police statistics. For example, since 1983 the police authorities cited cases as "accidental killing" no longer included in the official statistics. The official statistics relate only to killings involving the use of firearms. Other deaths related to police activity are not taken into account. These are inadequately recorded in Germany.

The left-liberal non-governmental organization Civil Rights & Police / CILIP published based on own research each year the number of deaths and the votes surplus levy . It uses the official statistics, press releases and the answers to parliamentary questions .

A total of at least 501 people have been shot by the German police since 1952 .

The table only contains the cases that have come to light through police statistics, the daily press and other mass media. According to Spiegel and CILIP, the actual number of fatal shots is higher.

The statistics do not include suicides or those shot dead by the federal police . Those killed by other types of police methods are also not included in these lists, for example by suffocation in a stranglehold or car chase, which killed more than 200 people from 1971 to 1980 alone, while 153 people were killed by firearms by the police in the same period were killed.

Legal framework

The weapons of the German police are primarily used for direct coercion . This legal term includes, among other things, the sovereign influence on people or things. In Germany, the authority for direct coercion is only regulated in federal police law (for federal authorities) or the 16 police laws of the federal states (for regional police forces). The powers and legal framework in the areas of application are almost all different. It also depends on what the focus of the measure is (security or law enforcement or execution). Depending on the purpose and threat situation (e.g. self-defense), other powers may apply. For a use for the purpose of self-defense, there are stricter barriers for police officers due to the different assessment of the self-defense situation.

The use of weapons by the police in Germany is based on the principle of due discretion or according to instructions . The legal requirements are usually complex and must be checked in a split second in an emergency.

see also: Firearms Use Commission

Permitted weapons

Only weapons approved by the employer may be used. For the Bavarian Police . 78 para 4 of the true nature of sentence 1. Police task Law : "When weapons baton, conducted energy device and similar weapons, pistol, revolver, rifle, machine gun, machine gun and hand grenade are approved. By order of the State Ministry of the Interior, weapons can be temporarily tested as operational equipment. "

“Special weapons are a particular problem, especially machine guns and hand grenades. In most federal states, they may not be used by the state police, but by the BGS. The use of such weapons [...] is highly controversial [because] training on it gives the police military orientation and [because] these weapons do not allow targeted use at all due to their scattering effect. "

- Martin Wagner : For life and death - The Basic Law and the »final rescue shot«, 1992

numbers

year Number of
killshots 		Total number of shots fired
at
people
1952 31 at least (including Philipp Müller )
1963 4 at least (only NRW and Hesse)
1964 2 at least (only NRW and Hesse)
1965 6 at least (only NRW and Hesse)
1966 4 at least (only NRW and Hesse)
1967 2 at least ( Benno Ohnesorg , otherwise only NRW and Hesse)
1968 5 at least (only NRW and Hesse)
1969 2 at least (only NRW and Hesse)
1970 7 at least (only NRW and Hesse)
1971 4 at least (including Petra Schelm , Georg von Rauch )
1972 4 at least (including Thomas Weisbecker , Ian McLeod, Richard Epple , Duifhus)
1973 5 at least (Erich Dobhardt)
1974 10 (including Günter Jendrian)
1975 13 (including Werner Sauber )
1976 8th 141
1977 17 (including Helmut Schlaudraff) 160
1978 8 (including Willy Peter Stoll , Michael Knoll ) 111
1979 11 104
1980 16 (including Manfred Perder) 111
1981 17th 93
1982 11 (including Jürgen Bergbauer) 125
1983 24 53
1984 6th
1985 10
1986 12
1987 7th 92
1988 8th 114
1989 10 102
1990 10 (including Mike Polley ) 162
1991 9 271
1992 12 315
1993 16 307
1994 10 268
1995 21st 221
1996 9 163
1997 10 172
1998 8th
1999 15 (including Friedhelm Beate )
2000 6th
2001 6th
2002 6th
2003 3
2004 9
2005 4th
2006 6th
2007 12 46
2008 10 37
2009 6 (including Tennessee Eisenberg ) 57
2010 8th 47
2011 6th 36 + 109
2012 8th 36
2013 8th 42 (38)
2014 7th 46 (51)
2015 10 40 (41)
2016 11 (13) 52
2017 14 (16) 75
2018 11 54
total 515 at least 2567

Figures before 1978 are not necessarily comparable with later figures, because when these statistics were compiled in 1997, the files from the period up to 1977 had already been destroyed after the twenty-year retention period had expired. Self-harm and suicide are not included in the figures.

Other use of weapons

In addition to the officially approved pistol, the police laws of most federal states also permit the baton and the submachine gun as an official weapon . In several federal states, stun guns have also been tested or used since the early 2000s .

The use of pepper spray , dogs, horses or water cannons mostly does not represent the use of a weapon , but rather the use of a so-called " aid to physical violence ". These aids are subject to far less strict application requirements. More detailed information on the permitted resources, their application requirements and classification can be found in the respective police laws of the federal states.

See also

literature

  • Manfred Baldus : Federal police law with interstate and supranational sources of law. Interpol, Schengen, Europol, border guards, joint investigation teams, liaison officers, customs cooperation, Eurojust, mutual legal assistance, protection of fundamental rights. 3. edit again. and exp. Edition Müller, Heidelberg 2005, ISBN 978-3-8114-3219-2 .
  • Heiner Busch: police fatal shots - an everyday problem. In: Fundamental Rights Report . On the situation of civil and human rights in Germany. S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt a. M. 2018, pp. 63-66. ISBN 978-3-596-70189-6 . (Fischer Taschenbuch.) (Google Books.)
  • Otto Diederichs: Police shots in Europe. Attempt a comparison. In: Civil Rights & Police / CILIP . No. 112 (2017, March), pp. 82–86.
  • Otto Diederichs: Fatal use of firearms by police officers 1995 . In: Civil Rights & Police / CILIP . No. 55, 3/1996.
  • Gerhard Fürmetz: “Particular threat to police officers” - everyday violence against police officers in early post-war Germany. In: Alf Lüdtke, Herbert Reinke & Michael Sturm (eds.): Police, violence and the state in the 20th century. VS Verlag für Sozialwiss., Wiesbaden 2011, pp. 131–144, ISBN 978-3-531-18266-7 . [With information on deaths between 1946 and 1954, especially in Bavaria.]
  • Ralf Krüger: Police use of firearms. 3rd supplemented edition. Richard Boorberg Verlag, Munich 1977, ISBN 3-415-00534-8 .
  • Hans Lisken †, Erhard Denninger : Handbuch des Polizeirechts. Avoidance of danger - law enforcement - legal protection. 5th, revised and expanded edition. CH Beck, Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3406632471 .
  • Clemens Lorei (Ed.): Self-protection & use of firearms by the police. Contributions from science and practice 2006. Verlag für Polizeiwissenschaft, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-935979-81-8 .
  • Clemens Lorei (Ed.): Use of firearms in the police 2001. Contributions from science and practice 2001. Proceedings of the congress on March 14th and 15th, 2001 in the Deutsche Bibliothek in Frankfurt am Main. Verlag für Policewissenschaft, Frankfurt am Main 2001, ISBN 978-3-935979-00-9 .
  • Clemens Lorei: The unintentional firing of a shot by police forces. An empirical-psychological analysis. Verlag für Polizeiwissenschaft, Frankfurt am Main 2005, ISBN 978-3-935979-59-7 .
  • Erik Peter / Svenja Bednarczyk: Fatal police shots. Every five and a half weeks, a person is shot by police in Germany. A dossier. In: Zeit online , May 2017. - Comment.
  • Dieter Schipper: Danger defense and means of coercion by the police. An outline of general administrative and police law. Richard Boorberg Verlag, Munich 1981, ISBN 3-415-00868-1 .
  • Burkhard von Urff: Use of firearms by the police in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and in the Federal Republic of Germany , Lang, Frankfurt am Main 1997 ISBN 978-3-631-31158-5 .
  • Martin Wagner : For life and death. The Basic Law and the final rescue shot . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1992, ISBN 3-525-78325-6 .

Web links

Wikibooks: Rights and duties in dealing with the police when using firearms  - learning and teaching materials

Remarks

  1. ↑ The number may refer to the number of firearms used, so the number of shots fired could be higher.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Martin Wagner: On life and death. The Basic Law and the “final rescue shot”. 1992, p. 29
  2. ↑ Lower Saxony Hazard Defense Act (NGefAG), § 74 - Threat of direct coercion ( Memento from March 26, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ http ://www. Schusswaffenicherung.de/
  4. ^ PAG - Bavaria
  5. ↑ a b Figures from 1996 onwards from: Clemens Lorei: Statistics in connection with the use of firearms by the police , Hesse University of Applied Sciences - Police Department, as of August 17, 2014
  6. ↑ Figures from 1963–1969, only FRG according to: Heiner Busch (co-author) u. a .: The Police in the Federal Republic, 1988 edition
  7. ↑ Figures from 1976–1983 based on: Heiner Busch (co-author) u. a .: The Police in the Federal Republic, 1988 edition
  8. ↑ Otto Diederichs: Police death shots 2007 . In: Civil Rights & Police / CILIP . No. 90, vol. 2008, issue 2, pp. 75-78.
  9. ↑ In its official statistics for 2007, the Conference of Interior Ministers recorded only 10 police deathshots. Cilip, on the other hand, determined 12 fatal shots based on its press evaluation.
  10. ^ Otto Diederichs: Police death shots 2008 . In: Civil Rights & Police / CILIP . No. 93, volume 2009, issue 2, pp. 61-66.
  11. ↑ Otto Diederichs: Police death shots 2009 . In: Civil Rights & Police / CILIP . No. 96, year 2010, issue 2, pp. 57-61.
  12. ↑ Cilip writes somewhat unclearly on this in the report for 2009: “The German police fired a total of 57 shots at people in the past year; 24 of them are declared as shots against property . "
  13. ↑ Police death shots 2010. In: Bürgerrechte & Polizei / CILIP . No. 99, vol. 2011, issue 2, pp. 77-80.
  14. ↑ Police death shots 2011. In: Bürgerrechte & Polizei / CILIP . No. 101/102, year 2012, issue 1/2, pp. 93–97.
  15. ↑ 85 cartridges in 2011: Police officers shoot less often on duty . In: Spiegel Online . May 8, 2012
  16. ↑ 15 people were injured. See civil rights & police / CILIP . No. 101/102, volume 2012, issue 1/2, p. 93.
  17. ↑ Individual case, apparently not considered in the statistics. Axel Spilcker: Federal Court of Justice overturns judgment against supplier - SEK fired 109 times at him. In: Focus Online . April 19, 2018. Retrieved April 21, 2018 .
  18. ↑ Statistics firearms use 2012: German police officers shot people 36 times . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . 18th September 2013
  19. ↑ Twenty people were injured. Cf. Otto Diederichs: Police death shots 2012. In: Bürgerrechte & Polizei / CILIP . No. 104, December 2013, pp. 75-78.
  20. ^ Otto Diederichs: Police death shots 2013. In: Bürgerrechte & Polizei / CILIP . No. 106, October 2014, pp. 74–79.
  21. ^ Otto Diederichs: Police death shots 2013. In: Bürgerrechte & Polizei / CILIP . No. 106, October 2014, p. 74.
  22. ↑ Statistics: Police officers shot seven people in 2014 . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . 17th July 2015
  23. ↑ Otto Diederichs: Police death shots 2014. In: Bürgerrechte & Polizei / CILIP . No. 109, January 2016, pp. 70–73.
  24. ↑ 31 people were injured. Compare Otto Diederichs: Police death shots 2014. In: Bürgerrechte & Polizei / CILIP . No. 109, January 2016, p. 71.
  25. ↑ Statistics from the Police University. German officials shot ten people in 2015. In: Tagesschau.de . ARD , September 22, 2016, archived from the original on September 22, 2016 ; accessed on September 22, 2016 .
  26. ^ Otto Diederichs: Police death shots 2015. In: Bürgerrechte & Polizei / CILIP . No. 111, October 2016, pp. 84–88.
  27. ^ Otto Diederichs: Police death shots 2015. In: Bürgerrechte & Polizei / CILIP . No. 111, October 2016, pp. 84–85.
  28. ↑ For self-defense and emergency aid. Police killed eleven people last year. In: T-Online Nachrichten of July 15, 2017.
  29. ↑ Otto Diederichs: Police death shots 2016. Berlin gaps - "statistically assessed as open". In: Civil Rights & Police / CILIP. No. 113, volume 2017, issue September, pp. 49–54. - In the statistics compiled by the German Police University for 2016, two Berlin fatalities are not taken into account because the public prosecutor's investigations into the question of guilt in 2016 were not yet completed.
  30. ↑ Prof. Dr. Clemens Lorei: Statistics on police firearms use in Germany as of August 10, 2018
  31. ↑ Otto Diederichs: Police death shots 2017. Again inconsistencies in the official count. In: Civil Rights & Police / CILIP. No. 117, vol. 2018, issue November, pp. 74–79. (Correction to case no.12 in CILIP no.118 / 119, year 2019, p. 170.)
  32. ^ Otto Diederichs: Police death shots 2018. Bundesweiste and Berlin firearms statistics . In: Civil Rights & Police / CILIP . No. 120, year 2019, issue November, pp. 78–83. ISSN 0932-5409.
  33. ^ Otto Diederichs: Police death shots 2018. Bundesweiste and Berlin firearms statistics. In: Civil Rights & Police / CILIP . No. 120, volume 2019, issue November, p. 78. ISSN 0932-5409.