Bürgerrechte & Polizei/CILIP 60 (2/98) | |
Summaries | |
| |
Modern Surveillance Technology
by Detlef Nogala
Bugging
operations, forensic DNA-databases, video-surveillance of public space
ongoing debates in many countries about new police initiatives and accompanying
legal extensions of authority point to the fact, that organised social control
in late modern societies has become a matter of adopting new technologys
full potentials. This introductory article discusses some general theoretical
aspects of the burgeoning use of surveillance technology in policing. In
conclusion it is argued, that surveillance technology could not exclusively be
seen from a instrumental point of view, but rather has to be considered as a
genuine political matter because it carries certain visions of social order in
itself.
Audio-visual
Surveillance
by
Thilo Weichert
Audio-visual
surveillance looks back on a long tradition in Germany. In the 1950s key
traffic points and intersections were equipped with special surveillance
towers, complete with television cameras for tracking the flow of traffic.
Today, we are confronted with television camera surveillance on the part of the
police or private security services also capable of audio recording throughout
the public and semi-public sphere: in banks, on subway and rail platforms, in
tunnels, etc. Some cities such as Leipzig even provide television camera
surveillance of areas with high crime rates. This omnipresent audio-visual
surveillance leads to increasing displacement of crime and a general decrease
in the sense of individual responsibility for reporting crimes. The victims of
such policies are disenfranchised groups such as the homeless, substance
dependents and adolescents at risk. New pattern recognition systems of audio
and visual data will make it possible in the foreseeable future to match
millions and millions of potential matching patterns in extremely short periods
of time. Counterstrategies aimed at protecting constitutional rights to privacy
are nowhere in sight.
The
Leading Edge at the Border: Technical Arms Buildup for Bastion Europe
by
Heiner Busch
More
and more Europe's outer borders are being equipped with the most modern
technology available in an effort to seal them off from the influx of refugees.
Night sighting devices, radar and CO2 gas detection devices as well as
document analysis scanners and fingerprint
databanks have become key elements of the standard arsenal available at border
control points throughout Western Europe. The article provides a survey of the
newest technological developments aimed at sealing off Europe's borders from
undesired intruders.
The
Surveillance Spiral of Telecommunication
by
Ingo Ruhmann
The
expansion of telecommunication industry during the past decades has also led to
a major increase in the potential for numerous forms of surveillance. The
availability of computers and the attendant digitalization of
telecommunications led not only to the rise of new communication services, it
has also expanded the scope of surveillance activities far beyond the contents
of messages or data transmissions and encompasses such phenomena as data on the
individuals environment, the individuals given location or an
individuals identity. Since 1995 German legislators have entered into a
race to adapt telecommunication laws to the constantly changing expansion of
telecommunication technologies and market liberalization. The stated goal of
the federal government is securing complete and total surveillance of
telecommunications.
Wiretapping by
Norbert Pütter
Over
the past several years the scope of police wiretapping in Germany has witnessed
considerable growth rates. The statistical data collected and published on the
total number of wiretap orders, the number of persons subject to wiretaps, the
number of phones and calls provides us with merely a vague indications of the
real scope of telephone wiretapping in Germany. Neither the security
bureaucracies, nor high level politicians appear to have the slightest interest
in informing the public of the real extent of these intrusions into the secrecy
of telephone conversations.
The
Electronic Surveillance of Prisoners
by
Rita Haverkamp
Since
1997 an intensive debate over the pros and cons of introducing electronic
surveillance devices for prisoners which would allow them to serve their prison
terms at home or at other approved locations such as the workplace has captured
the public interest: The Federal Council (Bundesrat) has prepared draft
legislation, the Federal Minister of Justice has set up a commission to study
the problem and some of the German states have declared their intent to subject
the electronic shackle to a test phase. The article begins with a
historical review of the development of the device and traces the course of the
discussion in the Federal Republic of Germany. The fact that the positions
within the same political parties differ considerably and even contradict one
another is interpreted as an indication of the fact that the public debate over
the electronic shackle is still in its preliminary stages in
Germany.
We, the citizen as security risk
by
Wolf-Dieter Narr
The
author was the editor of a book under the same title back in 1997. At that time
civil rights got in jeopardy because of the political climate following the
armed confrontation between the RAF-group and state forces. The article
describes the rise of a System of Interior Security focusing on
new preventive strategies and the part technological options played in this
development. It is argued, that on one hand the current technological
innovations in policing could be seen as a kind of déjà vu,
because the police has been keen to utilize new instruments for its purposes
since ever. On the other side modern police technology can indeed make a
qualitative difference in terms of civil rights. Although the author finds
grounds to see things in relative terms he argues for a critical awareness of
the development and concludes with some recommendations for the political agenda.
Expansion
of General Authority Clauses by the Police
by
Fredrik Roggan
The
general authority clauses give the police the legal authorization for action in
those cases where no specific regulation exists for such an incident or
activity in police laws. Using current examples, the author demonstrates how
the police illegally make use of these general authority clauses in cases where
the special regulatory standards do not cover the activity or measure. He cites
the example of the police in Bremen who placed certain areas simply off limits
or the use of undercover agents to conduct so-called danger research. The
result is an increase in police intervention in general.
Confidential
Informers Behind Bars
Confessions
of an Anonymous Cell-mate
Confidential
informers are basically men and women from the criminal sub-culture or persons
who have at least access to it and who simultaneously cooperate with the
police. Due to this potential collision of interests it is more than likely,
that confidential informers run into conflict with the law. As soon as the
police can no longer conceal their criminal activities, they land in prison.
The author describes the role played by confidential informers in jails and
prisons based on his own experience: They use their terms in jail or prison to
establish contacts with those persons they can turn over to the police once
they are released from jail or prison and enjoy privileged treatment from
prison authorities as auxiliary contributors to the maintenance of order in
these institutions.
Police
Shooting Fatalities 1997
by
Otto Diederichs
The
official statistics released by the Conference of Germany's Ministers of the
Interior on fatal police shooting in 1997 once again differ from the figures
released by CILIP. According to the official statistics there were a total of
10 fatal police shooting incidents. By contrast, CILIP counted a total of 12
fatal incidents due to the fact that CILIP also counts those incidents which
occurred accidentally. During the same period there was one fatal shooting
incident by a customs investigator and an additional fatal shooting by a
member of the military police of the US armed forces.
Übersetzungen: Dave Harris
| |
Startseite | Inhaltsverzeichnis | |
© Bürgerrechte & Polizei/CILIP 1998 HTML-Auszeichnung: Felix Bübl. Zuletzt verändert am 4. Oktober 1998. |