Berlin police officers want out: Union demands easier transfers to other states
Germany's police union GdP wants binding rules for officers moving between states. Bavaria's interior minister calls Berlin officers' wish to leave "alarming."
Symbolic image · Photo: Auge24.eu / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0 (cropped and resized)
The Berlin branch of the police union GdP is calling for officers to be allowed to transfer more easily to other German states. Spokesman Benjamin Jendro told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that a move had so far been "almost impossible" for Berlin officers, requiring a swap partner, a social hardship case or a transfer tied to a promotion. "The swap partner often fails because hardly any police officer wants to come to Berlin," Jendro said.
The union wants the conference of state interior ministers to set "binding parameters" for transfers. It considers the states' agreement not to poach officers without their employer's consent legally untenable, saying it "now seems obsolete." Baden-Wuerttemberg Interior Minister Manuel Hagel (CDU) had openly courted Berlin officers after the city's election. The GdP also demanded a "clear commitment" to the police from Berlin's next state government.
Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU) told broadcaster Welt that reports of Berlin officers wanting to leave were "alarming" and a "devastating message for security in our capital." Bavaria did not want to poach anyone, he said, while sharply attacking Berlin's Left Party, which is in coalition talks with the SPD and the Greens. Neither the union nor Herrmann gave figures on transfer requests.