German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere unveiled a raft of changes to national laws devised in response to the recent terrorist attacks in Germany, including an expanded police force, a special unit to fight cybercrime, fast-tracked deportation for refugees who commit crimes, among others.
The proposals came on Thursday following a spate of lone-wolf Islamist attacks in Germany’s Ansbach and Wurzburg, and a shooting spree in Munich in July.
COUNTER-CYBERCRIME DEPARTMENT
Germany will create a new special police force to fight cybercrime by 2017 with around 400 personnel, according to the minister.
“Technical tasks for combating cybercrime will be entrusted to the Central Department of Information Technology and Security (ZITiS). It must be established early next year, more than 400 people will work there,” de Maiziere said.
He reminded that the gunman behind the Munich attack bought his gun illegally on the “dark net.”
LARGER POLICE PRESENCE
The minister said that the government will fulfill its commitment to create an additional 4,600 jobs in the country’s law enforcement agencies, including 3,250 places in the federal police service. This decision will be implemented before the end of the current administration.
In total, “more than 2 billion euros [$2.2 billion] in additional funding in the period from 2015 to 2020 will be allocated,” de Maiziere said.
FASTER DEPORTATIONS
The German Interior Ministry called for the timely deportation of refugees who lied about their identity or who pose a security threat.
“Those who provoked their deportation themselves, for example, by providing false information about their identity, committing offenses or posing other threats to public safety, shall be definitely deported,” de Maiziere said, stressing that a faster procedure is required.
BREACH OF MEDICAL CONFIDENTIALITY
The German government will begin negotiations with the representatives of the medical community about opening up information on patients who may pose a security threat, de Maiziere said.
“We agreed that we, as the federal government, will begin negotiations with representatives of the medical community on how to come to a decision regarding confidentiality for a possible reduction in the threat to citizens’,” de Maiziere said.
He added that as for now, there is a clause in the professional code of medical staff that allows for breaches to medical confidentiality in case of “protection of the public good.”
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