Herbert Reul has promised the 50,000 employees of the North Rhine-Westphalia police force that the incidents involving right-wing extremist chat groups will be fully investigated. "I would like to assure you and your relatives that I will do everything I can to find answers," wrote the Minister of the Interior in a circular letter on Wednesday (September 23). "It is my promise to you: this disgrace of the North Rhine-Westphalian police will be completely cleared up." He emphasized that right-wing extremists had no place in the police force.
"You must look out for each other," the minister wrote. This also includes reacting sensitively if something goes wrong internally. For this reason, Reul has already appointed extremism officers in every police authority, to whom anyone can turn in confidence.
"I appeal to your and all of our common sense. I believe that police employees in North Rhine-Westphalia have a good sense of what is acceptable and where boundaries are being crossed," he said. It is also clear that where content of criminal relevance is involved, this must be reported. "There is no tolerance, that is your duty and my clear mandate to you. After all, the greatest asset of our police force is at stake: the trust of the citizens whose safety you protect."
More than 200 investigators were involved in the searches carried out by the "Parabel" special commission on the morning of September 16. 35 police stations and private residences in Duisburg, Essen, Moers, Mülheim an der Ruhr and Oberhausen were searched. The 30 police officers, most of whom had served at some time in the same team at the police station in Mülheim an der Ruhr, which belongs to Essen police headquarters, or still do today, were immediately suspended. Disciplinary proceedings were opened against all of them, 14 of them with the aim of removing them from the service. Eleven of the 30 officers are suspected of criminal offences: disseminating symbols of unconstitutional organizations and incitement to hatred. The presumption of innocence applies to all of them.
