IMAGO / Jürgen Held
Last week, we wrote about the recent increase in gun violence in Berlin. Shootings occur weekly or even daily during some periods, with over a thousand recorded instances of firearms use last year. The police appear to finally be getting serious about combating this phenomenon.
Since 6am this morning, more than 500 officers have been taking part in a large-scale raid of over 20 apartments throughout Berlin suspected to house weapon stashes and be tied to criminal organizations related to the rampant shootings. The special task forces ‘Ferrum’ and ‘Telum’, established in November last year, are behind the operation. To date, they have seized 30 firearms and a number of electronic devices used by criminal gangs.
Nonetheless, the Berlin Police Union (GdP) is unsatisfied with the limited, in their opinion, scope of surveillance powers they have; despite recent reforms, telecommunication tapping, data storage and the AI-assisted analysis of it are still restricted by legal frameworks.