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To catch a thief...

01 March 2004

The Federal Crime Police Authority (Bundeskriminalamt - BKA) has started a scheme for citizens to register with a BKA text messaging service to help with police searches. Now not only the police units but also those registered will receive a text message on their mobile phone, which could, according to the specially created BKA "Text Messaging Search Portal” website, read as follows:

Bank robbery, police searching for two 30-year-old men, jeans, black jackets, fugitive in brown BMW, Dortmund license plate. Clues phone 110 (http://www.sms-fahndung.de)

The practice is targeting public transport drivers and was agreed by Interior Minister, Otto Schily, on 15 February this year. Schily declared that "the quick and direct involvement of citizens allows for new forms of cooperation between police and public." One Social Democrat MP accused the Interior Minister of "block leader mentality" (block leaders were used in Nazi Germany to spy and report on neighbours). The leader of the police trade union, Konrad Freiberg, pointed out that involving the public in searches was only "helpful to a very limited extent" because those seeking attention usually bombard police with tips, creating more work than delivering helpful clues. According to a recent report in the weekly newspaper Spiegel, the messaging practice has not been very successful. Only the Bielefeld police station, where 450 people allegedly registered, is using the service and most regional Länder have refrained from taking part, despite the claim by Schily that a nationwide pilot project in 11 police stations in September 2002 had led to "considerable search successes."

Süddeutsche Zeitung 18.2.04;
http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/46262
http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/44723
http://www.bmi.bund.de/dokumente/Pressemitteilung/ix_94232.htm