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3.1.1.2 Demands and Recommendations by Legal Experts and NGOs
Legal experts and NGOs have made various demands that could improve the existing provisions for police registration and classification of hate crimes in Germany. First and foremost, victim support organizations recommend a general shift in focus: Given the nature of hate crimes, it is essential that the criteria for the police assessment of a hate crime be less (right-wing) perpetrator-oriented and more victim-oriented. Such a shift would diminish the problematic concentration on the perpetrator’s affiliation with the extreme right-wing or neo-Nazi milieu and enable the police to register anti-Semitic or xenophobic hate crimes irrespective of the perpetrator’s political background. This proposal would emulate a system utilized in Great Britain, in which the perception of victims or a third person determines the initial police assessment. (35)
Other experts have pointed to the need of further training programs for all police units—not only specialized task forces—in order to improve the initial assessment of hate crimes. These programs should also »impart information on […] the registration system and how to apply it in practice, about the potential perpetrator groups (e.g. meaning of neo-Nazi symbols), and typical patterns of offences, [as well as] about the potential victim and their perception.« (36) Police commissioners specialized explicitly in dealing with victims of hate crimes are also seen as a means of improving the trust in law enforcement institutions. Representatives of LGBT organizations are in favor of establishing contact persons/points (both within and outside the police departments) focused on the concerns and needs of homosexual crime victims. (37)
Another issue of concern is the process of information exchange between NGOs, police authorities and other law enforcement agencies (public prosecutors, judges etc.). The LGBT association Of a Different Kind (AndersARTiG e.V.) recommends improving and standardizing the communication procedures between these groups, so that this process becomes more institutionalized.38 Monitoring activities by non-governmental actors are also considered crucial by many legal experts and supranational bodies. The Left party (Die Linke) has repeatedly raised the issue about the need for the creation of a nation-wide independent monitoring body on right-wing extremism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism that could coordinate and support the activities of regional/local organizations, in order to get a more comprehensive picture of the amount and severity of hate crime incidents throughout Germany.
35. Ibid.; Peucker 2006. The Hate Crime Concept, p. 4. See also: Oakley, Robin 2005. Policing Racist Crime and Violence: A Comparative Analysis, European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia, Vienna, p. 6.
36. Peucker 2006. The Hate Crime Concept, p. 4. Police expert Mark Holzberger and independent journalist Heike Kleffner demand a »systematic training and awareness program by victim counseling associations« for police officers. Holzberger, Mark; Kleffner, Heike 2004. War da was? Reform der polizeilichen Erfassung rechter Straftaten. In: CILIP, Nr. 77/2004, p. 56-64.
37. Interview with Of a Different Kind.
38. Peucker 2006. The Hate Crime Concept, p. 4.
(OPP)
