38 2.4 – INDEPENDENT COMPLAINTS AND INVESTIGATION BODIES independent in practice.” Such bodies must therefore be clearly separate from the police force’s 39 internal mechanisms for complaints management. However, it is not clear from the case-law precisely what types of organisational structures they should 40 have in order to fulfil these criteria. This opinion is 41 also shared by the CPT. As well as the institutional independence of such bodies, the independence of 42 their staff members is also a decisive factor. According to the ECtHR, the independence of investigating bodies is compromised significantly if 43 the staff members are seconded police officers. The staff must have maximum professional distance, while 44 at the same time coming from a police background. Ensuring that teams have interdisciplinary expertise and are not made up entirely of former police officers can increase independence in practice, as well as improve perceptions of independence. Every Land should set up such independent investigation bodies. As part of its duties, the National Agency has for a long time been concerned with the issue of potential violence by police officers in custody, and the question of how assaults can be prevented. An essential element of such prevention is the detection, prosecution and punishment of misconduct on the part of police officers. Accusations of police violence and their subsequent investigation are also dealt with by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). The ECtHR issued its first judgment in such a case 36 against Germany in November 2017. In an internal event, the National Agency entered into a dialogue with representatives of complaints and investigation bodies from several Länder. This enabled a discussion on what can be done to ensure complaints and investigation bodies are perceived by victims and witnesses as independent and impartial points of contact, and to strengthen trust in independent investigations. The CPT also regularly focuses on the issue of complaints and investigation bodies in its state visits. In its Report published in 2017 on the visit to Germany in 2015, the CPT strongly criticised the situation in Germany with regard to complaints and investigation bodies. Indeed, such criticism had 37 already been expressed in previous visits. At the same time, there had been positive developments in recent years with the establishment of such bodies in many of the Länder. Now, there are complaints bodies in the Länder of Baden-Württemberg, Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, RhinelandPalatinate, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, SchleswigHolstein and Thuringia. Bavaria, Bremen and Hamburg already have long-established separate investigation bodies. 2.4.2 – Complaints bodies Furthermore, it is recommended that independent police complaints bodies be established in every Land and at Federal level. Such complaints bodies can serve as a point of contact for witnesses and victims of misconduct on the part of police officers. Their approaches differ to those of investigation bodies and make it possible to arrive at mutually agreed solutions, for example via mediation procedures. In addition, they can also examine the outcome of investigations into accusations of police violence. It is equally vital that these bodies are also perceived by citizens as being independent. This can be achieved, for example, through affiliation with the Land parliament. Such bodies should also have comprehensive powers to establish the facts of individual accusations, as is the case, for example, at the Ombudsman of the Land of Schleswig-Holstein. Finally, complaints bodies must have enough 2.4.1 – Investigation bodies In order for an investigation body to be seen as a trusted point of contact, it must be perceived by the public to be independent. A study on independent police complaints bodies summarises the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights on the topic as follows: by independent, the Court means “there may be no institutional or hierarchical connections between the investigating officers and the accused officers, and it must be guaranteed that the investigations are fully 38 Töpfer (2014), Unabhängige Polizei-Beschwerdestellen. Eckpunkte für die Ausgestaltung, p. 10. 39 Klein (2015), Polizeigewalt: Rahmenbedingungen, Umgang und Transparenz, Verlag für Polizeiwissenschaft, Frankfurt, p. 100. 40 Töpfer (2014), p 10. 41 CPT/Inf (2017) 13, p. 15 et seqq. 42 Majetschak/Ritte (2016), Beschwerdestellen über Polizeiverhalten, Working Paper 15 der Humboldt Law Clinic Grund- und Menschenrechte, p. 38, URL: http://hlcmr.de/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/WP15_HLCMR.pdf (retrieved on 17 April 2018). 43 Töpfer (2014), p 17. 44 Töpfer (2014), Unabhängige Polizeibeschwerdestellen. Eckpunkte für die Ausgestaltung. Policy Paper, p. 11. 36 Hentschel and Stark v. Germany, Application no: 47274/15, Judgment of 9/11/2017. 37 CPT/Inf (2017) 13, p. 15 et seqq. 36