The police union (GdP) is complaining about hundreds of dilapidated and sometimes hazardous police stations in Germany, as well as inadequate service vehicles, and is calling for a special fund for internal security. "Decades-old toilet bowls, mold in the stations, vermin, broken heaters, and holes in the roofs that let rain in.
In some cases our people are expected to work in conditions hazardous to their health," Hagen Husgen, a member of the GdP federal executive committee, told the Münchner Merkur newspaper on Tuesday.
Husgen criticized the fact that the federal government's planned additional investments, including for the federal police, are far from sufficient. “In Germany, we have an investment backlog in the double-digit billion range for our police real estate alone,” he lamented.
There are also deficiencies in numerous service vehicles, which massively impair the work of the police. He emphasized that it was “shameful” and ‘embarrassing’ for the police to be driving around in such cars. “Vehicles with torn seats and half a million kilometers on the clock, broken gear sticks. When citizens see this, it doesn't reflect well on the police,” the GdP representative continued.
Husgen called for more support for the states from the federal government. “Federalism is important in some areas, no question. But for a functioning police force, federalism must be scaled back in some areas, such as digitization,” he added.
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