Judgment Skin color may not be a criterion for police control

OVG Koblenz alleges infringement of non-discrimination

Koblenz (law). The police must not control people because of their skin color. This would be a prohibited discrimination on grounds of race, the Higher Administrative Court (OVG) Rhineland-Palatinate ruled in a judgment of the previous day announced on Friday, April 22, 2016 (Ref .: 7 A 11108 / 14.OVG). Due to their fundamental importance, the Koblenz judges approved the revision of the Federal Administrative Court.

Background of the dispute was the sole control of a dark-skinned family in the regional middle Rhine railway between Mainz and Koblenz by the Federal Police on January 25, 2014. The parents and their five and a half years old children were German. The police requested the identity cards and checked the personal details. After the return, the federal police officers got out without controlling any other persons.

The parents felt discriminated against because of their skin color. They were controlled only for their race.

Before the OVG they were now right. According to the Federal Police Act, however, federal police officers are likely to carry out personal checks in certain trains in order to prevent illegal entry of foreigners into the Federal territory. Also regional trains such as the Mittelrheinbahn, which have their starting point and end point in the federal territory, are not excluded. Also random sample checks are allowed.

However, skin color was at least one of the decisive criteria for police control. A selection of persons in controls to prevent unauthorized entry, for which the skin color of the people is the sole or at least a decisive criterion, but violate the principle enshrined in the Basic Law discrimination, the Koblenz judges made clear.

Although police controls have been used to combat illegal immigration or smuggling, they represent a significant public interest. However, given the large number of interviews in relation to the small number of illegal entries detected, which only amount to about one per cent, public interest is falling.

A check in connection with the skin color is inadmissible. Why the federal police have controlled the family, can no longer be determined. Because of the external circumstances of the control and the partly unclear statements of the witnesses it could be assumed that the skin color was decisive for the control.

Already on October 29, 2012, the OVG had pointed out in another procedure that passport checks based on the skin color do not go and constitute discrimination (Ref .: 7 A 10532 / 12.OVG, JurAgentur report dated 30 October 2012). After the federal police had apologized, the proceedings were considered settled with the consent of the plaintiffs. A formal decision was not made at that time. (Fle / mwo)