The Cologne police has disbanded one of its special weapons and tactics units as prosecutors opened inquiries against several of its members for fraud, drug use, manslaughter and theft. Cologne's Police Commission has suspended seven officers in a unit of the elite police force, or Sondereinsatzkommando (SEK), from their posts. It also removed their chief from his responsibilities. According to senior public prosecutor JÃŒrgen Kapischke, five officers are suspected of involuntary manslaughter. Testimony by witnesses suggests that one SEK officer was directly responsible for the suicide of a man during a deployment in July 2001.
The SEK unit also made headlines earlier this year when one officer killed a colleague during a training exercise. The police are still investigating that incident. Other officers allegedly smuggled drugs in car tires and stole equipment. Two others were present at a party where hashish cookies were consumed, Kapischke said. The senior officer of the unit allegedly had the men agree on a certain story following a deployment so as to cover up any possible mishaps, he added.
The officers' own colleagues turned them in. "The information came out of the police's own ranks," Cologne's Police Commissioner Klaus Steffenhagen told a press conference on Thursday. Steffenhagen stressed that there couldn't be the impression that a special task unit feels it's allowed to do everything necessary to prevent prosecution as a result of a mission. The Interior Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia Fritz Behrens demanded severe punishment for the officers if they are found guilty of committing the crimes. "We don't need any rotten apples in our police force," Behrens said. Steffenhagen said he was "deeply struck" by the officers' breach of regulations. He added that the accusations did not involve human error, but rather "deliberate misconduct." |