Thursday, January 30, 2020

Police Story

It came out today via NDR (regional public TV from north Germany)....the state police of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (region to the east of Hamburg and extending across half of eastern Germany) have changed the rules.  If you get detained or arrested.....your nationality will figure into the arrest report.

If you are German, it'll say so.  If you are Irish, it'll say so.  If you are American, it'll say so.

Why the effort?  What's said is that the political folks want an end to continual rumors of criminals, and the chatter from the German right-wing folks.  The word transparency is heavily emphasized.

Both Hamburg (the state) and Brandenburg have gone this direction....to stop right-wing gossip.

Problems with the press?  Well....most journalists will follow some type of code and try to avoid using the nationality in their 'literature'.  I won't say it's right or wrong....but if you wanted to downsize the element of right-wing chatter and anti-migrants, you need to establish an element of the truth with the public. 

What if you show that one-third of all arrests are with non-Germans?  Well, that would indicate a problem, and you'd calmly ask the question if maybe some of these people just need to return to their homeland.  Hiding this truth.....doesn't help anyone. 

No comments: