1 in 4 Hamburg police officers hold far-right views: Study

COLOGNE, Germany

A study conducted in Germany revealed Thursday that one in four members of the Hamburg police force have racist or far-right views.

According to reports in the national media, the Hamburg Police Academy conducted a study titled Attitudes and Values Towards Democracy Within the Hamburg Police (DeWePol).

It found that a quarter of the surveyed officers identified themselves as “racist or far-right,” while 45% expressed negative attitudes towards refugees.

The study also concluded that minority groups such as Sinti and Roma or the long-term unemployed were perceived negatively.

It was also observed that police officers frequently used terms such as "undemocratic" or "foreign" when referring to Muslims.

Among the 2,018 police officers surveyed, one-third were found to be open to populist views, while 7% believed in conspiracy theories.

It was also reported that disciplinary investigations are ongoing against 15 former officers of the Hamburg police force, who are accused of sharing racist and National Socialist content in WhatsApp groups.