Border control boost risks Police shortages

Following the announcement of stricter border controls from next week, the police union (GdP) has warned of staffing problems. "If controls are to be tightened from next week and more deportations are to be carried out, several hundred additional officers will have to be sent to the borders," said union head Andreas Roßkopf to the Funke newspapers on Saturday.

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"We have to make sure that the other tasks of the Federal Police are not neglected in all of this, such as protecting rail traffic or aviation security." Even now, the Federal Police can only guarantee the required presence at the national borders "because hundreds of colleagues from the riot police help out there in addition to the regular forces", continued Roßkopf. The tasks at the border are "still manageable with the existing personnel". But with every increase, it becomes more difficult. The federal police need more personnel and better technical equipment, demanded the GdP boss.

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The designated Chancellery Minister Thorsten Frei (CDU) had previously announced stricter border controls and the rejection of asylum seekers from the very first day of the new government in the newspaper "Welt am Sonntag". This would involve "intensive controls in a short period of time, because we do not want to permanently restrict freedom of movement in the EU or suspend the Schengen Agreement".

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Roßkopf told the Funke Mediengruppe newspaper that the union welcomes "all political measures that contribute to regulated migration". However, the future German government is expected "to make clear agreements with its European neighbors regarding border controls and refoulement," he emphasized. "Our colleagues need legal certainty when they turn people back at the borders." Austria's Federal Chancellor Christian Stocker told "Welt am Sonntag" that Germany must comply with the law when announcing stricter border controls. "I expect that we will act in partnership at the internal borders and find a coordinated solution that is based on the rule of law," he said. "We will not take back anyone who has been turned back by a neighboring country outside of a lawful procedure."