Frankfurt Special Forces members tied to far-right group

The State Minister of the Interior Peter Beuth is disbanding the Special Task Force (SEK)

The Frankfurt am Main Police Department is disbanding the Special Task Force (SEK) after the discovery that commandoes had been participating in far-right extremist messaging, a state official said on 10 June 2021. Peter Beuth, State Minister of Interior and Sports said the decision was unavoidable because this was unacceptable misconduct.

The event happened after the Frankfurt Public Prosecutor’s office and the Hesse State Criminal Police Office announced on Wednesday that they have ongoing investigations into 20 active and former SEK officers suspected of participating in right-wing extremist chat groups.

Paedophile texts on one of the commandos' smartphone led investigators to 19 active and former state police officers associated with far-right extremist content. The officers were suspected of spreading hate-inciting texts and symbols of former Nazi organisations outlawed in Germany. Aged between 29 and 54, all but one were on duty at the time of the crime.

On Wednesday, The State Minister of the Interior promised to remove the men from Hesse Police. He went a step further and announced the launch of a fundamental reboot of SEK, as a group of experts will organise the restructuring of the unit. He also called for a shift in culture among the mid and lower levels of the police force.

Hesse state has been a hotbed for right-wing activity among German authorities

Threatening emails have been sent to several people, including a prominent lawyer with a migrant background, and they have all been traced back to a police computer in Frankfurt. The messages were signed NCU 2.0 – a reference to the Neo-Nazi group “National Socialist Underground”. The organisation committed 10 murders between the years 2000 and 2007.

In July 2020, also in Hesse, left-wing politician Jenine Wissler also received threatening emails after her personal information was acquired through a police computer.

Despite all this, the swift action of Peter Beuth in disbanding and restructuring the SEK unit shows a genuine will for change. He stated that special forces will be vital for the future, however, the parameters of their conduct must be different.