Around one in three police officers has heard racist comments from colleagues while on duty not too long ago. This is the result of the final report of a large-scale study commissioned by the federal government on everyday life and attitudes within the police force. In two online surveys conducted at different times, 67 percent of participants said they had never heard such comments in the past year. In the second survey, the figure was 68 percent. The researchers asked police officers from the federal and state governments about their observations on how colleagues deal with citizens and with other police officers.
Sexist statements are relatively common
According to the study, just over 40 percent of the police officers who took part noticed sexist comments in the year before the survey. Ten percent of them said that this had happened in more than ten cases within a year. Three percent of those surveyed reported that they had observed corrupt behavior by colleagues in the past year. The number of incidents cannot be directly deduced from the results of the online survey, as the misconduct of an officer may be observed by several of his colleagues.
The respondents who had noticed racist comments, sexism or corrupt behavior, however, mostly did nothing personally, according to the study. Sexual assault was the most frequently reported crime by respondents, at around ten percent. The authors of the study point out, however, that an individual reaction does not mean that the crime was not reported, as the report can also be made by third parties. They were also only asked about their own behavior the last time they observed such an incident.
Anti-Muslim sentiment has increased
For the study, the German Police University also asked about officers’ attitudes towards minorities and authoritarianism. The final report states: “There are few indications of radical positions, but some impressions that suggest uncertainty and ambiguous positions.” The study results also show that problematic attitudes have increased. For example, in the first survey between November 2021 and October 2022, the researchers found that 11 percent of respondents were anti-Muslim. In the second survey, which ran between November 2023 and March 2024, the figure was 17 percent. An increase was also observed in chauvinism and authoritarianism. The rejection of asylum seekers rose from 30 percent to 42 percent.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:240919-930-237153/1
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