FAQ

How can I determine I have been stopped by genuine police officers? Can I refuse to give a sample of urine? etc. 

• How can I determine I have been stopped in Germany by genuine police officers when they do not wear a uniform?

Germany bodies (federal police, state police as well as customs officers) are entitled to carry out checks while not wearing their uniforms.

Every police officer is, however, obliged to carry with him/her the service card and to show it at the request to identify themselves as police or customs members. Moreover, they are obliged, as a rule, to tell their name and service number.

A checked person has the right to request a checking person to prove his/her identity. This obligation is explicitly regulated by laws on Saxonian and Bavarian police (Section 8 of SächsPolG and Section 6 of PAG). This rules does not apply if circumstances do not allow for it or if the purpose of the action would be endangered.

• Are there any other ways to verify that the checking person is a member of the police?

If checking persons refuse to prove their police membership at your request by showing the relevant card try what one person did – he dialled line 112 and informed the operator that he suspected he was being checked by somebody impersonating a police officer. In a few minutes several authentic police cars arrived and, actually, no check was carried out.

• Under what circumstances can German police officer request that you go to the police station?

A checked person can be apprehended and taken to the police station only if his/her identity could not be proven by any other manner or it could be proven only with extreme difficulties (Section19.2 of SächsPolG and Section 13.2 of PAG).

 

• Federal police motorcycle
   It happened to me several times, when driving in Germany that I was overtaken by a German police car and the sign "Bitte folgen" started to flash. I speak German, so it was clear to me that I should follow the car. After we’d stopped I was checked; the police officers were wearing their uniforms this time. What could, however, happen if such a stupid sign were given as signal to someone who did not speak a word of German? People might, for example, think that they should slow down, that there is a traffic jam ahead and so forth and potentially might not follow the German police

The official answer of the German federal police: As a matter of fact police instructions must be clear. By using a light signal or a police horn an unambiguous signal is given. Simultaneously, police officers concerned watch reactions of the driver and they can respond adequately. No great difficulties have been reported so far in relation to this police signal.

• Federal police uniforms
  What are my rights with respect to continual (negative) checks at the German border zone? The German police repeatedly (I drive to Germany about three times a week) check me. I am usually requested to stop by being overtaken by a silver or grey BMW (without any beacon or logo) whose passengers wave and show me to stop. Gentlemen dressed in plain clothes have ordered me, several times, to urinate in quite interesting locations and also blood samples were taken (also negative). I wanted to refuse but they threatened me with “Anal sonden". I’d like to know what I can request (an interpreter, assistance of our embassy, an option to provide a sample in a civilised environment with running water) and what I can reject.

 

The official answer of the German federal police: As a matter of fact the person concerned is to be explained his/her rights concerning any police measure to be taken. If the checked person does not speak German an interpreter is provided. If the person in question is apprehended, a consular office or an embassy is informed. The person must be instructed on his/her rights during all police measures taken. If there are any doubts an interpreter must be used. The person signs that he/she is aware of all his/her rights. The checked person is also entitled to reject some measures (for example an aggravating testimony and so on).

 

• How to proceed when a police officer of a foreign country, not wearing the uniform, damages my car? It happened to two of my friends that the police for some specific reason believed that they were hiding something and cut a part of the seat cover with a knife.

The official answer of the German federal police: If any damage occurs during police checks there is a possibility to claim a financial settlement or damages applied against the German Federal Republic. Any damages can be claimed from a relevant authority or applied for at the court successfully only if it is obvious that the relevant damage was caused during the police check (so-called causality) and the damages are claimed at the corresponding amount. Therefore a motor vehicle should be examined after the check and respective damage should be immediately shown to the checking police officers so that the damage could be documented. The police officers are obliged to provide you with information on the authority (and its address) responsible for proceedings on the claimed damages. The amount of the damage must be proved to this authority by relevant documents (such as a price estimate of the repair or a receipt for the repair). Police officers are obliged to provide you with this information. If they breach this duty the person concerned has an option to file a compliant with the superior of the given police officer.

 

• Can the police require samples of urine/blood?

Yes. If they are suspicious that you have consumed alcohol or used drugs the police are entitled to take your urine/blood sample.

• Under which conditions do Schengen rules allow checks in a border zone?

Police checks carried out in a borderland, to be in compliance with Schengen rules, must satisfy the following conditions:

• should not have border control as an objective,

• should be based on general police information and experience regarding possible threats to public security and aim, in particular, to combat cross-border crime,

• should be devised and executed in a manner clearly distinct from systematic checks on persons at the external borders,

• should be carried out on the basis of spot-checks;

  (Article 21 of the Schengen Borders Code)

 

•  How can I recognize that the check violates Schengen rules?

Any check must have neither the form of border control nor a control equivalent to border control. As a comparison we list below conditions of border controls which are carried out at the external Schengen borders and are valid for citizens of the Czech Republic and other persons enjoying the Community right of free movement, and which used to be carried out at the Czech-German and Czech- Austrian borders before 21^st December 2007:

• Verification of identity on the basis of submitted travel documents.

A minimum check consists of a rapid and straightforward verification, by using technical devices where appropriate and by consulting, in the relevant databases, information exclusively on stolen, misappropriated, lost and invalidated documents, of the validity of the document authorising the legitimate holder to cross the border and of the presence of signs of falsification or counterfeiting (Article 7 of the Schengen Borders Code). 

• Saxonian police car
   I assume I am not obliged to stop when I am halted by a civilian car although it may have somewhere inside a small beacon. Am I correct?

 German legal regulations concerning checks of persons and things differ in several aspects from checks carried out in the Czech Republic. The main differences involve a possibility to carry out checks by police officers as well as customs officers when they do not wear their uniforms. Therefore checking persons can wear plain clothes and drive a civilian car. This rule applies also to late night hours on unlit roads. In this context German provisions lay down an obligation for every police officer to carry with him/her the service card and to submit it at the request to identify themselves as police officers. Moreover, as a rule they are obliged to tell their names and the seat of their office and/or their service numbers. If any check is carried out by police officers driving a civilian car their instructions must be clear – for example using a visible sign (“Bitte folgen”) or a police horn is considered to be unambiguous sign.

If the above-mentioned procedures are met you are obliged to stop and submit yourselves to the required check. If you do not do so you have not met the requirement of the police and open yourself to problems because the police can interpret your behaviour as disobeying a police order. 

• I think that in Germany I am not, in any case, obliged to submit anything to a person who does not establish his/her identity by presenting a relevant document .Yes or no? And I am absolutely not obliged to go with that person anywhere – for example to the police station. Yes or no?
  

The police are entitled to, apart from other things, establish the identity of checked persons and for that purpose they can request you to submit relevant documents. You are obliged to submit yourself to such check. If there is any doubt that the check is carried out by a police officer, ask him/her to establish his/her police membership.

There must be a reason for taking checked persons to the police station – for example it was impossible to establish their identities or there are serious reasons to take them to the police station with regard to the public order and so forth. 

• How can I recognise whether I am being checked, in Germany, by a member of the federal police, state police or a customs officer?

If a check is being carried out by a police/customs officer wearing a uniform and/or driving in a car with police markings the following photographs could help you. Of course, you can be absolutely sure if you request checking persons to establish their police/customs membership. If officers are wearing a uniform, then you can distinguish them by the insignia on the sleeve of their uniform: in the case of the Saxonian police there is a Saxonian sign, the Bavarian police have Bavarian markings and in the case of the federal police and customs officers, a federal eagle (Bundesadler) is used as a marking (see figs. in the text).

• I had to sign a German police form although I did not understand it. Can I refuse to sign the form?

Under certain conditions you may refuse to sign the form – in case that the form is in German and you understand neither the form nor the oral accusation of an offence. If, however, you refuse the sign the form when it is translated in a language that you understand, or the form is translated by an interpreter, this fact will be documented by police officers in presence of witnesses and it may severe your position in the course of further investigation.

• Under which conditions are German police officers obliged to inform Czech embassy/consulate? Can a police officer refuse to inform the consulate? May I request to inform the consulate also in case that I am not detained?

Czech embassy/consulate shall be informed by the German police only in case of your detention.

If you are not detained, you may not request the German police to contact the embassy/consulate, police officers thus may refuse to contact the consulate. In any case, you may contact the embassy/consulate yourself.

•  Which rules apply in Germany during criminal or administrative offence proceedings when payment of a fine or a security deposit is imposed? How are cases solved when the person concerned does not have appropriate cash? Is it possible to pay later on or to use a payment card?

In case of a security deposit, measures implied aim at ensuring that a person permanently living outside Germany does not avoid obligations arising from the German law. It is therefore not possible to pay later on. Should the person concerned not have appropriate cash, other ways of providing a security deposit may be used – e.g. by deposing bonds, guarantee by suitable persons (according to § 132 par. 1 s. 2 together with § 116 par. 1 of the code of criminal procedure – Strafprozessordnung). Should a person not follow the order for a security deposit, means of transport and other objects (including cash) which are carried out with the person concerned and belong to him/her, may be seized in accordance with § 132 par. 5 of the code of criminal procedure. If a security deposit cannot be charged, this is indicated in the respective notice.

A fine may be imposed by a judgement (Urteil) or a penalty order (Strafbefehl). Its amount is always determined by a day rate (Tagessatz). Should the person concerned not be able to pay the fine in the required amount, he/she would have to “serve” the day rate – in that case, imprisonment by a police officer would follow.

Concerning payment by a payment card, offices of the Federal Police are not equipped with appropriate facilities that would enable payment without cash. Nevertheless, it is up to the respective police officers whether he/she let the person concern e.g. to withdraw cash from an ATM machine located nearby.

Department for Asylum and Migration Policy, December 1, 2009

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