Bracing for a Crunch: German Federal Police Anxious About Staff Shortages Amid Border Control Expansion
Law enforcement officials express concerns about potential workload escalation due to increased border surveillance tasks.
In a disturbing revelation, the German Federal Police express concerns about potential staff shortages due to an upcoming increase in officers deployed at the border, according to a media report. An internal document has surfaced with doubts about the authority's ability to maintain other domestic tasks as usual.
Apparently, the anticipated surge in border officers could lead to gaps in other tasks. According to "Spiegel," an internal directive from the Potsdam presidency recommends that the Mobile Control and Surveillance Units (MKÜs) — the officers handling these units — will primarily be stationed at the border. The directive suggests that the MKÜs should only be deployed "to the extent that is unavoidable" for other "deployment situations."
The document also mentions the police's commitment to increasing forces at the border to the maximum. The Federal Reserve Police is asked to enhance its "personnel support services" to fulfill this requirement. However, the directive clarifies that this situation will be "temporarily limited." To ensure sustainability, the integration of additional deployment forces like the interns from the Federal Police Academy in Lübeck will be essential, as mentioned in the note.
In addition to switching to 12-hour shifts and restricting leave, the directives instruct the directorates to "restrictively grant leave." There may be logistical challenges in accommodating the additional forces at the border, and it might be necessary to establish deployment variants where officers return home after their shift and resume duty the next day.
This significant deployment is part of the new government’s broader strategy to tighten migration policy and strengthen identity checks at the borders, starting from early May 2025. Given the substantial reallocation of personnel to border security tasks, it is plausible to expect staff shortages for other policing responsibilities within Germany.
Politics - Migration - Border controls
- The internal directive from the Potsdam presidency indicates that the Mobile Control and Surveillance Units (MKÜs) will primarily be deployed at the border, potentially leading to staff shortages in other domestic tasks, such as the Community policy and employment policy.
- As officers are reassigned to the border for increased staffing, there may be a shortage of police officers in areas like crime-and-justice and general-news, thereby impacting migration-related politics.
- To offset the shortage of officers, the directive suggests the deployment of interns from the Federal Police Academy in Lübeck and potentially implementing 12-hour shifts, while restricting leave for current officers.
- Whatsapp groups, allowing for communication and coordination between officers, might become increasingly important in managing these staff shortages, driven by border control expansion and migration policy changes.
