The special task force (SEK) of the Frankfurt police is disbanded in view of the latest investigations against officials.

Interior Minister Peter Beuth (CDU) announced this on Thursday after the latest scandal about right-wing extremist chat groups.

He has commissioned Stefan Müller, the police chief of the West Hesse police headquarters and former head of a special units directorate, to lead a staff of experts for the restructuring of the special unit, as announced by the interior ministry.

Katharina Iskandar

Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

  • Follow I follow

    He saw no other option than the dissolution, said Beuth.

    Three managers failed to fulfill their tasks.

    Beuth spoke of "total failure".

    In the past two years, numerous regulations have been made to strengthen resilience and a culture of error.

    "Never misunderstood corps spirit"

    The brutalization of a service group was, according to his words, accepted by superiors with open eyes.

    Those who look the other way and allow wrongdoing to happen are complicit.

    The state government wants a closer exchange between the SEK and other units.

    "For this we need specialized civil servants, but specialization must not lead to isolation," emphasized Beuth.

    When a SEK is on duty, it is a matter of life and death.

    But as important as cohesion is, it should never result in a misunderstood spirit of the corps.

    "The majority of the officials of the SEK are not guilty of anything, but a deep cut is necessary," continued the minister.

    Stefan Müller was a former head of a SEK and therefore a specialist, Beuth said.

    Müller emphasized the need for a special set of values.

    It is completely undisputed that management structures and correctives that are provided also have to take effect.

    "That obviously didn't work here."

    Investigations by the State Criminal Police Office have uncovered statements in chats between employees of the SEK Frankfurt, which are criminally and disciplinary, as the Ministry of the Interior says.

    Against 18 active officials as well as two former will be determined.

    "We are working meticulously to establish a new error culture in the police," affirmed Beuth.

    He is assuming that the state with its specifications will make a contribution to the fact that there will no longer be such an exchange within the Hessian police, as it has now been discovered, with such ideas.

    “But you can't look behind your forehead,” Beuth admitted.

    The minister did not want to commit himself at the press conference whether one could speak of a network.

    “I'm not sure whether this categorization is correct.” So far, there has been no knowledge as to whether this closed group has been used to communicate with other groups.

    "But the investigation is at the very beginning, you have to see that." The country will keep the country busy for longer, he said.