What is changing in North Rhine-Westphalia
Previously, the following applied nationwide: anyone who has German citizenship is only recorded as "German" in the crime statistics - even if he or she has another passport. With the new regulation, a possible second nationality is now also recorded in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Reul justifies the change by stating that several nationalities could play a role for the police (for example, in the case of grounds for arrest such as the risk of absconding). According to the Minister of the Interior, this should also create more transparency in police work.
An analysis showed that in 2024, one in six German suspects in North Rhine-Westphalia had another nationality. The most common combinations were German/Turkish, German/Polish and German/Russian.
Harsh criticism from SPD and Greens
The announcement has met with resistance, particularly from the SPD and the Greens in NRW. "This approach doesn't help in terms of criminal policy, but promotes racism," Sebastian Fiedler, the SPD's domestic policy spokesman, told the Tagesspiegel. "Ultimately, it signals to all people with a dual passport that they are only considered second-class Germans with a second passport, for whom different standards are applied."
The Greens in NRW also distanced themselves from the decision. Julia Höller, spokesperson for domestic policy, said that the separate identification of nationalities would "not provide any insight into the work of the police", but would only play into the hands of the AfD.
Decision receives support from the Bundestag
Support, however, came from the CDU/CSU in the Bundestag. Alexander Throm, spokesperson for domestic policy for the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, told the Tagesspiegel newspaper: "The nationality of a person obviously plays a major role in crime statistics. It is therefore only right that the police communicate honestly and transparently here."
Throm is calling for other federal states to follow suit. According to the CDU politician, this is particularly important in view of the recent reform of citizenship law, which makes dual citizenship easier.
How the other federal states are reacting
The initiative has met with interest in Bavaria. The police union there has called for multiple nationalities to be included in the statistics. The Ministry of the Interior in Munich reacted more cautiously, speaking of an "interesting approach" and announcing that it would wait for the results from NRW.
Lower Saxony is quite different: Interior Minister Daniela Behrens (SPD) clearly rejected the plans. "Germans are those who have German citizenship, and there should be no differentiation," she said.
Thuringia, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Berlin have also signaled that they do not intend to change their current practice and will continue to adhere to the nationwide directive.
Schleswig-Holstein and Hesse, on the other hand, are fundamentally open to the idea, even if a change in the recording of crime statistics would have to be carefully examined, according to Hesse's Interior Minister Sabine Sütterlin-Waack (CDU).
Will the method be used nationwide?
The Federal Ministry of the Interior under Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) also welcomed the initiative. A spokesperson told the German Press Agency that the recording of all citizenships was "understandable and sensible".
Whether dual citizenship will be included in police crime statistics throughout Germany is currently rather questionable. This would require an amendment to the law, which would have to be approved by both the Bundesrat (i.e. all federal states) and the Bundestag. Such a process has often taken years in the past.
This is how data collection works throughout Germany
The Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) explained that the statistical data is initially collected by the criminal investigation departments of the individual federal states and then forwarded to the BKA. A joint commission of the federal and state governments decides on changes to the data collection.
" There arecurrently no plansto record multiple nationalities [nationwide]," a BKA spokesperson told the Tagesspiegel. For the time being, people with German and another nationality will therefore continue to be recorded exclusively under "German" in the nationwide crime statistics.
The debate comes around a year after the reform of citizenship law. Since June 27, 2024, it has been possible to obtain dual citizenship in Germany. This means that naturalized citizens can keep their original citizenship if they acquire a German passport.
