Greens present counter-proposal to police law

Due to considerable doubts about the government's proposal for a new Saxon police law, the Greens have submitted their own draft to the state parliament. The minority government made up of the CDU and SPD goes far beyond the limits of what is constitutionally permissible in some areas, said Valentin Lippmann, the Greens' domestic policy spokesperson, in Dresden.

According to the Greens, their draft implements the requirements of the Saxon Constitutional Court of January 2024 from the judicial review proceedings, which the Greens and the Left had requested. There are also two other issues: an improved legal basis for defending against drones, which allows police officers to shoot them down, for example, and a package of measures to combat domestic violence, which, among other things, provides for offenders to be expelled from homes for four weeks instead of two.

Fundamental need for discussion on the use of AI

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) is excluded. The Greens believe that there is still a fundamental need for discussion, particularly when it comes to using it for police forecasts. "This is a significant paradigm shift," said Lippmann. He also doubted whether all of his colleagues in the state parliament had even understood how AI works.

The Constitutional Court had stipulated a revision of the Police Act in 2024 by June 31, 2026. The draft bill from the CDU and SPD aims to enable the use of AI for video surveillance of crime hotspots, among other things. Subject to judicial approval, it also provides for the so-called source telecommunication surveillance (source TKÜ) of encrypted messenger services such as Whatsapp. Automated license plate recognition is intended to help identify stolen vehicles.

The use of controversial remote electro-pulse devices (Tasers) as a "regular means of deployment" and regulations on the use of and defense against drones are also planned.