Right-wing extremist incidents: security industry without control?

Guarding refugee accommodation has given security companies a boom in recent years. But right-wing extremist incidents are reported again and again. How is the industry dealing with this?

The security industry has been booming for years. The guarding of accommodation for refugees in particular has brought great growth to the industry. Sales have almost doubled since 2014 and rose from six to more than eleven billion euros in 2022. But there are also problems. In recent years, several cases of attacks in shelters have been reported.

The best-known trial began in 2018. Four years earlier, security employees from Burbach in North Rhine-Westphalia locked refugees in a room and mistreated them. 18 employees were convicted. In 2019, a video from a refugee accommodation in Halberstadt in Saxony-Anhalt became public. It shows employees hitting two young men from Afghanistan. There are several accusations and at the end a warning is given.

Attacks in Suhl

According to reports, harassment and racist insults are the order of the day in the initial reception center (EAE) in Suhl (Thuringia). MDR Investigative several former residents and employees. “The black ones are called roofing felt,” says a person who lived in the EAE until the summer. The N-word is mentioned regularly. He wants to remain anonymous – for fear of negative consequences for his residence permit.

One security man the former resident reports on is Benny W. “He really treated us like cattle,” he says. W. openly shows himself on old Facebook profiles with right-wing extremist symbols – in the background there is, for example, a Reich flag and a flag of the right-wing extremist band Landser.

In 2014 he ran on the electoral list of the Thuringian neo-Nazi Tommy Frenck. In 2018 he was hired by the company “City Schutz” to work in the initial reception center.

Behnam Golistani speaks publicly about problems with security employees in Suhl. Before his escape, Golistani worked as a journalist in Iran. He lived in the EAE for seven weeks when he came to Germany: “From the beginning they destroy the residents there.”

In November 2021 – he no longer lived in Suhl – Golistani brought friends to the accommodation. When the security employee W. leaves several residents standing in the cold for a long time and threatens to use violence, an argument breaks out. “Welcome to Germany, you asshole!” W. finally says and threatens Golistani.

A colleague can stop Benny W. from storming off. After the incident, there are investigations into coercion, threats and insults, but these are closed.

What did “City Schutz” know?

Someone who worked for “City Schutz” for a long time but wants to remain anonymous says of Benny W.: “Yes, he doesn’t belong there. I said that from the start.” On the first day, W. came to work with handcuffs and rubber truncheons. “That would be his normal equipment that he needs when he works here in the asylum seekers’ home where all the dogs are jumping around.”

The man continues: “They’ve already looked for rooms where they can lock some people up.” This was stopped by superiors at the time. W. belonged to a clique that repeatedly caused problems. The company management was not informed about these incidents. However, she had received complaints from 14 colleagues about racist behavior and regular insults from another employee.

Benny W. wanted to face this MDR not comment on the allegations.

When asked how the employer “City Schutz” dealt with the allegations, the company replied in writing: It deeply condemns the unprofessional actions of Benny W., which became public two years ago via the cell phone video. There was then a ban on deployment for four weeks, disciplinary measures under labor law and a requirement to take part in de-escalation training.

The superiors came to the conclusion: “Benny W. shows weaknesses in dealing with conflict situations, but is not strongly committed to the right-wing scene.”

There was no knowledge of his political past or Facebook profile. Complaints about other employees, including those made by colleagues, have proven to be untenable. An internal complaints portal has been set up.

What are they doing? Security companies and authorities?

Are security companies doing enough to prevent such incidents? “Our member companies try to ensure that people take care when acquiring members as part of the recruitment process,” says the managing director of the Federal Association of the Security Industry, Berthold Stoppelkamp.

The association primarily represents the large companies in the industry – including “City Schutz”. The companies themselves could not prevent everything. For this purpose, the guard register was finally introduced in 2019.

The security register requires every entrepreneur to enter their employees into a database. Employees in the security industry must have their reliability confirmed by the municipalities. Previous convictions, among other things, play a role. In certain areas of operation, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution is also asked whether there is any information available there.

How well does the guard register manage to keep neo-Nazis out of sensitive areas? MDR Investigative made inquiries to all federal states to find out how often there was evidence of a right-wing extremist background and how the authorities subsequently decided on its reliability.

The numbers provide information for the first time about the dimensions of right-wing extremism in the security industry. According to the query, at least 347 cases have been reported since 2019 in which information about a right-wing extremist or Reich citizen background was available.

Check only in areas classified as sensitive Areas of application

However, according to the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Saxony, an inspection by the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution only takes place in areas of operation that are classified as sensitive. These include nuclear power plants, football games and accommodation for refugees. Five federal states, which make up almost a third of the total population, were unable to give us any figures.

In addition: In some federal states the numbers are incomplete. Thuringia, for example, has only been counted since 2022. In order to be able to make an accurate statement about the proportion of employees with a right-wing extremist background in the security industry, the numbers from all countries would have to be made transparent.

How often were suspected extremists allowed to be deployed despite information from the Office for the Protection of the Constitution? Here too, only an approximation is possible. Hesse, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Bremen and Saxony were able to provide information on this: In total, just a third of the employees were rejected because of the information.

Example: Saxony: Here, 139 registered employees had information about a right-wing extremist or Reich citizen background. Only 33 employees were rejected. The reason: The hurdles for rejection are high. Not every note from the Office for the Protection of the Constitution is legally sufficient. Instead, for example, membership in a banned association or in a party that has been classified as unconstitutional must be proven.

Similar cases, different decisions

Another problem is the open wording of the legal text, which includes an “as a rule,” says lawyer Jörg Zitzmann, managing director of the Academy for Security (AfS): “The authorities have some leeway.” This results in different decisions in similar cases.

Another point where there is a problem: there is too little control. Not registering often has no consequences for security companies.

Some of the problems should now be addressed at the federal level. The Ministry of the Interior published a draft law in July 2023 that is intended to better regulate the industry. Access for people who have committed crimes or intentional crimes should be regulated more strictly.

In other areas, local authorities retain discretion. Zitzmann criticizes that there is still a lack of a Germany-wide standard. There is also no improvement in sight for strengthening controls at the local level.