German police error culture and border strain flagged by Uli Grötsch

Uli Grötsch, the federal police commissioner, said the German police still suffers from a large‑scale error culture, noting that “it is still a very, very big construction site.” He called for a shift toward openness, accepting that police officers are human and will make mistakes, and urged more leadership that encourages self‑criticism.

Grötsch’s parliamentary report also warned that the federal police are increasingly overburdened by continuous border checks, especially on the German‑Polish frontier. Since 2015, border patrols have expanded to all land borders, with intensified operations from May 2025 and extensions through September 2026. Officers face extreme weather, lack of proper facilities such as portable toilets, long overtime, sudden schedule changes and limited time for training, which hampers cooperation with Polish and Czech police forces.