The police in Baden-Württemberg backed out and boycotted a nationwide study on the experiences and attitudes of police officers. After a veto by the main staff council, an online questionnaire from the German Police University was not distributed to the departments, although the Ministry of the Interior and police chief Stefanie Hinz had encouraged participation.
A spokeswoman for the interior department confirmed the relevant information from the “Stuttgarter Zeitung” on Tuesday. In almost all federal states, the survey initiated by the federal government has already been completed or is currently in progress. The spokeswoman said nothing could be said about the reasons given by the main staff council.
The study goes back to the former Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU), who responded to demands to investigate possible racism and legalism in the police after several incidents. However, the study was then laid out much more broadly. All interior ministers of the federal states support the research project.
Hinz said they wanted to gain insights into the following questions: “What motivates you to go to the police? How does the diverse but also challenging police profession shape the police officers? How do you deal with the stress?” Clarifying these questions is in the interest of the officials.
When asked at the police college in Münster, they said they were surprised by the cancellation by the main staff council after six months. “We regret that we were not asked,” said Jochen Wittenberg, co-author of the study “Motivation, Attitude and Violence in Everyday Life of Police Officers”, the dpa. The survey has been completed in almost all countries, in North Rhine-Westphalia and with the federal police it should end in July. Berlin will deliver a little later.
In addition to Baden-Württemberg, only Hamburg, where the main staff council had also spoken out against the nationwide study, gave up. There should be a separate investigation here. Wittenberg assumes that the results of the major study will be presented at the next conference of interior ministers at the end of November. There is still the possibility that the police in the south-west will be involved, the results would then be added later.
Chief of Police Hinz explained that she still thinks the study makes sense in order to clarify the question of whether one is still properly positioned. Because the police are changing. “We are getting younger, more female, more diverse, the next generation wants to play an active role and the compatibility of work and family is becoming more and more important.” Participation in the survey would have been voluntary for all civil servants.
