The public prosecutor's office in Frankfurt am Main is investigating five Hessian police officers in connection with anti-constitutional symbols.
Task forces of the Hessian State Criminal Police Office (LKA) carried out search warrants from the Frankfurt am Main district court against four men on Friday, the public prosecutor's office and the LKA announced in the evening. The accused are active police officers at the Frankfurt am Main police headquarters. The search decisions are based on investigations in chat groups of a messenger service. Several mobile phones were seized, it said.
Anti-constitutional symbols and obstruction of justice
According to the information, one of the accused is suspected of having used symbols of anti-constitutional organizations. Three other officers are suspected of having perpetrated criminal evasion in this connection, and one of them is said to have violated official secrecy.
The investigations had also resulted in initial suspicion against another police officer for violating official secrecy, it said. A search warrant was also issued against him. At the time of the searches, no information was given in this case.
The accused had been banned from working, and further official and disciplinary measures would be examined by the Frankfurt am Main police headquarters, it said.
"I am very concerned about the allegations made against employees of my authority or the criminal investigations that have been initiated," said police chief Stefan Müller according to the announcement. Particularly serious is not only the fact that, according to the current state of knowledge, superiors are involved and have not fulfilled their special responsibility, but rather that they are also allegedly abusing their function in order to cover up misconduct.
