Germany’s right-wing AfD party has submitted a controversial proposal to parliament aimed at better reflecting differences in delinquency between ethnic Germans and those who have a “migrant background” in official crime statistics.
The party is demanding changes to the national Police Crime Statistics (PKS), an annual report by the federal police that compiles all crimes reported in Germany – as well as data on suspects and victims.
Currently, the PKS only differentiates between German and non-German suspects.
The AfD would like to see the more detailed information on the origins of crime suspects included in the statistics.
Moreover, the right-wingers also suggest that the PKS should reflect a potential “migrant background” of German suspects – for example through naturalisation or recently immigrated parents – as well as information on suspects with dual citizenship.
AfD MP Martin Hess – a police officer – said during the debate in the Bundestag yesterday that the goal was to provide an accurate picture of the crime burden of individual groups, in order to come up with suitable security measures.
“The parameters of the PKS must be amended so that the actual impact of uncontrolled mass migration on our security is reflected transparently,” he said.
Hess bemoans that currently, the detailed numbers – while available – have had to be specifically requested in parliament by the AfD.
These numbers exhibit worrying trends. In April, for example, it was revealed that Syrians and Afghans in Germany were eight times as likely to be suspects of violent crimes as locals.
Hess added: “Our motion calls for these figures to be included directly in the PKS in future, so that citizens can see at a glance where the main problem lies.
“For the truth is this: Violence in Germany is fundamentally linked to migration from certain countries, particularly from the Middle East and Africa and this must finally be clearly presented and articulated and appropriate action must be taken,” he said.
The motion caused harsh opposition from Germany’s left-wing parties.
Luigi Partisano, an MP for hard-left party Die Linke, accused the AfD of being “full of convicted inciters of hatred and tax evaders” and asked Hess what he, being a police officer, would do against racial profiling and crimes against “humans with a migrant history” by German police.
Greens party MP Irene Mihailac accused the AfD of “sowing distrust” and “spreading dangerous ideology” with its “biologistic” view of being German. Mihailac also cautioned against “politically instrumentalising” the PKS.
Frederik Bouffier, an MP for the conservative Christian Democrat Union (CDU) of Chancellor Friedrich Merz, accused Hess of “painting a black-and-white picture” and “blaming foreigners for everything”.
Bouffier conceded, though, that “a certain group is overrepresented” in the PKS.
After an emotional debate, the AfD’s motion was referred to the relevant parliamentary committees for further consideration.
