Herbert Reul was not lacking in clarity. "As Minister of the Interior, I will not tolerate extremism in our police force. Not from the right. And not from the left. Not from religious motives," he said at the kick-off event for the newly appointed extremism officers at the State Office for Training, Further Education and Personnel Affairs (LAFP) in Neuss (May 25, 2020). The police officers, who will be the point of contact in the state's 50 authorities in the event of suspected cases in future, met for the first time - beyond the hierarchical structures. "There is no pardon and no half measures when it comes to this topic," emphasized Reul. "Misunderstood solidarity, keeping your mouth shut - that's not an option." He told the civil servants: "We bear the main responsibility for ensuring that the free and democratic basic order is upheld."
At the beginning of March, the minister announced the appointment of extremism officers in all police authorities in the state and at the North Rhine-Westphalia University of Police and Public Administration in the state parliament's interior committee. The background to this was the case of an administrative officer at Hamm police headquarters who was arrested in mid-February on suspicion of membership of a right-wing terrorist organization. In the course of the investigation, the police in Hamm have now parted company with two other employees. One of them worked in the police service, the other was a case officer.
"For me, right-wing extremism is now one of the biggest threats to democracy," said Reul, admitting that he could not have imagined the scale of the problem until around six months ago. Among other things, he recalled the assassination of Kassel District President Walter Lübcke a year ago.
Since 2011, the LAFP has been recording people suspected of extremism. By the end of 2019, there were a total of ten suspected cases; this year, there have already been 15. "On the one hand, this is an expression and at the same time proof of our joint approach and our sensitivity," explained LAFP Director Michael Frücht, "but on the other hand, it is also mainly due to two complexes in Hamm and Aachen this year, each with several people affected, with a peak of five employees."
Even if these figures seem low when calculated against the total number of employees in the North Rhine-Westphalian police force, Frücht called for decisive action and clear signals: "Anyone who advocates or adopts racist, xenophobic, xenophobic or anti-Semitic views in the police force has no place in this citizen-oriented police force, which is consistently committed to democracy and the rule of law."
Frücht pointed out the multi-stage screening of prospective police officers: during the application process, during selection, during training and during the three-year probationary period. "With the central extremism officers, the authorities now have another important tool at their disposal," said Frücht, "the officers have the task of recording information on extremist behavior or beliefs of employees at a low threshold and immediately informing and advising the authorities."
For extremism researcher Prof. Dr. Thomas Grumke from the North Rhine-Westphalia University of Applied Sciences for Police and Public Administration advised the participants to become sensitive to the signs, symbols and language of extremism: "The first step is to recognize the phenomena in the first place." The training started the very next day - initially in manageable groups of eight due to the coronavirus crisis.
