SPECIFIC ISSUES Most of the Länder also informed the National Agency that they operate internal complaints systems for investigating police misconduct and that these also handle administrative and technical supervisory tasks. These complaints systems ensure that police misconduct is rigorously pursued at the disciplinary and criminal prosecution level, the National Agency was informed. Some Länder reported that complaints are addressed and discussed in the context of staff and leadership meetings. In North Rhine-Westphalia these reports are also passed on to the Land parliament. The National Agency also looked into the issue of CCTV monitoring of police stations in terms of better clearing up police assaults. According to the Länder, introducing CCTV monitoring in police stations has not yet been considered as an option, apart from in the context of protecting police premises. CCTV monitoring is, nevertheless, already being conducted in some custody suites and individual custody and interrogation rooms. Rhineland-Palatinate informed the National Agency that its police force had introduced body cams in July 2015 and that police vehicles are now fitted with CCTV cameras. duce an independent complaints office; the coalition agreements in Thuringia and Schleswig-Holstein specify that such offices are to be set up. The Joint Commission contacted these offices in the aforementioned Länder and requested information about their mandate and working method. It also held personal meetings with Department 13 (Internal Investigations) in Bavaria and with the RhinelandPalatinate Police Commissioner. The above-mentioned Länder have adopted very different approaches. Rhineland-Palatinate has expanded the remit of its ombudsperson to include the tasks of the Police Commissioner, in which capacity the ombudsperson accepts complaints and aims at out-of-court conflict resolution. Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt have also created complaints offices to which both citizens and police employees can turn. Bavaria chose a different model when it set up its Department 13 (Internal Investigations) in 2013. The Department is attached to the Bavarian Land Criminal Police Office and is responsible for conducting criminal investigations against employees of the Bavarian police in the case of offences committed while an officer was on duty. Individual cases may also be assigned to the Department, for instance offences committed while an officer was off duty. Department 13, a criminal police investigation office, has all the requisite investigatory powers and is subject to the principle of mandatory prosecution (Legalitätsprinzip). Further, the Department is the point of contact for citizens (telephone hotline) as well as for employees of the Bavarian police (intranet). As well as processing those cases which are assigned to it, Department 13 also regards police officer training and development as key. That is why those employed in the Department take part in the police training programme. In addition, there are plans to incorporate the relevant content into the training programmes of all the career tracks in the Bavarian police force. The aim is to provide employees with information about all aspects of internal investigations (conduct, external effects and consequences) and to raise their awareness so as, ultimately, to have a general preventive impact when it comes to the incidence of police assaults. Finally, the Office of Internal Investigations in Bremen and the Department of Internal Investigations (D.I.E.) in Hamburg operate under a similar mandate. The latter, though, does not process complaints. Based on the insights gained and given its preventive remit, the National Agency feels that it is important that each Land has an office to which the victims of police assaults can turn and that such an office is also established at federal level. Police officers should also be able to turn to these offices to report any miscon- 4.2.2 – Independent complaints and investigation offices In the period under review the National Agency looked into the use of force by police officers when taking people into custody and how this can be prevented. In the first instance, the National Agency was primarily interested in whether there are any independent bodies which accept and process complaints regarding such incidents. In the National Agency’s view, the existence of an independent complaints and investigation office has an important role to play when it comes to preventing police officers using force against those being taken into custody. Victims of police assaults will only place their trust in such offices if they are perceived as being independent. They should also give police officers who witness the use of force by colleagues a means of reporting incidents which avoids the official channels. In spring 2015 there were reports of ill-treatment in one Federal Police District Office, whereupon the Federal Police set up an “integrity line” which is directly subordinate to the Federal Police President and is responsible for handling complaints and information supplied by Federal Police officers. Complaints and investigation offices have already been set up in Bavaria, Bremen, Hamburg, Lower Saxony, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt. A central police complaints office opened in Saxony in early 2016. The Land parliament in North RhineWestphalia is currently examining whether to intro- 17