Petra Sandles, Vice-Head of the State Criminal Police Office, has been dealing with this question all her professional life. About a woman who got to know the darkest side of being human.
A huge aluminum container has opened up in the duty room. He is waiting for the police files that have yet to be destroyed. Petra Sandles happily scurries back and forth between desk and visitor and is almost overflowing with plans for the future. Sandles is the highest-ranking female detective in Bavaria. She has convicted murderers, persecuted Salafists and provided protection for Barack Obama at the G7 summit in Elmau. She can look back on a steep career. Most recently, as Deputy Head of the State Criminal Police Office (LKA), she was primarily a strategist. Vice-head of the LKA – in these spheres the air usually gets pretty thin for women. So far, only a handful of female civil servants across Germany have made it into such a top position. At the end of the month, the 61-year-old says hello to the police, in compliance with the corona, and does what many of her male colleagues at this age don’t do so easily: let go.