In view of the investigation into right-wing extremist statements by police officers in chat groups, the Hessian Interior Minister Peter Beuth (CDU) dissolves the Special Operations Command (SEK) of the Frankfurt police headquarters. Text and picture messages in chat rooms “suggest the suspicion of a right-wing extremist sentiment among some members of the SEK Frankfurt,” said Interior Minister Beuth.
The background is covert investigations by the Hessian State Criminal Police Office against numerous police officers who are said to have participated in said chats, all of whom are members of a SEK. According to the information, most of the chats date from 2016 and 2017. Those involved are men between the ages of 29 and 54, 19 active and one former civil servant. 18 of them were informed of the investigation on Wednesday, and one had been suspended from duty.
17 officials are suspected of having exchanged messages with incitatory content and images of a former National Socialist organization in chats. The other three officers are being investigated for thwarting punishment, as they, as the superiors of the groups, have not prevented communication.
The investigation against the group has been going on since April. The right-wing extremist chat came to light during investigations against a 38-year-old former member of the SEK Frankfurt. The reason for the investigation was different, as a spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office SZ said: The man was suspected of possessing and distributing child pornography. During the evaluation of his cell phone, the officials came across several chats with criminally relevant content, which are now the subject of investigations by the Frankfurt am Main public prosecutor’s office.