[rjzzleep]

It's Germany, and I have dark hair. When I went to file a police report the tall blonde police officer, he and his colleagues were mocking me in the back.

I ended up telling them off and will report it to the tax office. Which, while nasty seems to be only thing that will get that guy into trouble, Police at least doesn't care even though he violates a dozen laws including standard German privacy practice.

[detaro]

Ugh, bad cop. I'd encourage you to try that again/file a complaint, but I understand if you don't want to deal with that.

Hamburg DPO would be another avenue: https://datenschutz-hamburg.de/

If you're interested in involving media, heise.de and golem.de might be interested - at least some of there journalists are on here too.

[anc84]

I am calling bullshit.

There is very little chance that German police in Hamburg would not consider those alligations serious. Lots of Germans have black hair. Few Germans are tall and blonde. German police will file your case in any case.

[rjzzleep]

I guess you don't have a lot of experience with the police here.

This is actually very common. Whether you have dark hair or not, the former just makes it more likely. What I learned is that by law they're supposed to do that job. However, the general recommendation is not to go to the police, but rather to write the complaint to the DAs office[1]. Not only is a complaint to the DA office generally more fruitful they also immediately give you a reference number, which is more valuable than what most police officers will give you when you file a complaint there.

I'm going to contact the DPO yes, but I don't have any expectations. I'm not a big fan of Casper actually, his last legal publication is about animal rights. The SH DPO is way better efficient and faster at decisions. The line up is two ladies leading it, one of them with a technical background(computer scientist) and the other one a lawyer[2]. I work in German government, and we even tried to pay SH to get feedback(something they won't do).

That's why I was surprised when the Hamburg DPO received praise at the 35C3, since that's not inline with what I've seen from them at all.

[1] https://www.unternehmer.de/recht-gesetze/122808-so-erstatten... [2] https://www.datenschutzzentrum.de/ueber-uns/

[lgierth]

Racist behaviour by German police is a thing. No need to call "bullshit" on something that you haven't experienced yourself yet.

> German police will file your case in any case.

Yeah, that's what you'd expect. Doesn't always happen.

[decebalus1]

While an anecdote doesn't prove much, a distant relative of mine with a more Mediterranean appearance was detained by police in Munchen on allegations that the bicycle he was riding was stolen as he allegedly fit the description of a bike thief. After proving them wrong they mocked him saying something like 'how did someone like you managed to land such a high paying job? Do your colleagues like working with you? I mean you know.. considering... etc.. etc..'. I don't know what happened with his complaints post-factum but it's not the first time I hear about racist/xenophobe behavior by law enforcement in Germany.

[woolvalley]

What happens if you insinuate that they're going to join the Nazi party next?

[rellui]

I've lived in Germany and there are still clear race issues left in certain areas but I can't speak for police personally. It's all very hush hush as well which is one of the reason I dislike Germany and would not live there again. I live in the U.S. now and for comparison, there are some tensions here too but it's on the surface and in general much better.

[laurentoget]

Police do kill many many more people in the US than in Germany though, which makes your statement feel less than believable.