Law enforcement association - The ministry should have been aware of the issues.
The German Police Union believes that the Saxony-Anhalt Ministry of the Interior was aware of the issues with the storage of evidence in police stations for a while. According to the state chairperson of the German Police Union, Olaf Sendel, "Anyone familiar with the inner workings of the state police would have known about some of the issues currently surfacing within the force." He pointed out that many police stations have a significant maintenance backlog, which includes their evidence rooms.
He further remarked, "Those in charge of state politics should have been aware of this as well, especially since they get advice from employees of the Ministry of the Interior. Most of these advisors were once heads of police departments or entire police authorities. Therefore, it's safe to assume the authorities were well-informed about the issues in the ministry for a long time." Sendel emphasized that blame should not be placed on the police officers who have to operate within the framework set by politicians daily.
A report by the State Court of Auditors uncovered several problems with police evidence rooms. Recently, a fake hand grenade and a misused submachine gun, later found to be a decorative weapon, were discovered.
A week ago, the state's Interior Ministry informed the state parliament's interior committee that 274 weapons hadn't been destroyed as planned in the past few years despite directives from the public prosecutor's office. Authorities now state these weapons are part of the comparative weapons collection of the State Criminal Police Office. Additionally, a police officer in the Harz region was found to have several pieces of evidence on his property, which he kept for personal use. It also emerged that around €13,000 was missing from the evidence room at the Salzlandkreis police station.
The Ministry of the Interior has stated it will review the procedures in evidence management. A project group will create standard guidelines for managing and storing evidence. The eventual goal is a unified set of rules for the state police organization.
Read also:
- Loan players Sancho and Maatsen of BVB face an uncertain fate.
- Conflict in Ukraine: the current status
- Riedle draws a comparison between BVB and the 1997 championship squad.
- Fatal car crash during test drive results in suspended sentence.
Source: www.stern.de
