Police union dissatisfied with controls at borders with Poland, Czech Republic and Switzerland

The police union (GdP) is unhappy with the way travelers are now being checked at the borders with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland. "In some cases, cross-border roads have been occupied, this has also already led to the first traffic jams," said the GdP chairman for the Federal Police, Andreas Roßkopf, to the German Press Agency on Tuesday. The union had adjusted after the announcement of Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser (SPD) to "flexible, mobile and situation-adapted controls" and not to "blunt stationary fixed control points as at the Austrian border."

But that is what one experiences now at these border sections - but without the equipment necessary for such an approach. One must not allow that police officers have to work here "under the tailgate" without any weather protection, without technical equipment and without professionally equipped checkpoints for an extended period of time, said the trade unionist. Investigating officers and the technical equipment to quickly read cell phones of smugglers were also missing. That now from stations and airports policemen and policewomen had been withdrawn and sent to the border, had led to resentment among those affected, said Roßkopf.

Faeser had for the borders to Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland on Monday for an initial ten days stationary controls registered with the EU Commission. Shortly thereafter, there were first controls directly at the border. According to the ministry, the notification can be extended for a total of two months. In security circles, however, it is expected that the controls will later then also be notified for a longer period. From the beginning of January to the beginning of October, the Federal Police has detected about 98,000 unauthorized entries into Germany, according to the Federal Ministry of the Interior.

The Minister had stressed on Monday, at the affected border crossings should also in the future not be stopped around the clock every vehicle. She said, "The Federal Police can now flexibly, depending on the current situation, use the entire bundle of stationary and mobile border police measures." The checks should have "as little impact as possible on the daily lives of commuters, on commerce and on travel." The decision for notification and flexible controls at changing focal points had been welcomed by the GdP