According to the German Judiciary Federation (DRB), there is currently a shortage of 2,000 criminal investigators across Germany. Sven Rebehn, the national director of the DRB, told the “Bild-Zeitung” that in almost all federal states, three investigators are having to perform the workload of four. This situation is causing criminal proceedings to take significantly longer, resulting in smaller cases being prematurely dismissed more frequently. Nationally, the public prosecutor’s offices currently lack 2,000 additional investigators needed to address the massive backlog in the criminal justice system.
In North Rhine-Westphalia alone, there is a shortage of more than 500 investigators, based on the official staffing standards for the judiciary. Mr. Rebehn noted that this staffing gap has increased by approximately another 100 investigators compared to last year. He urged the federal government to meet with the individual states immediately regarding the announced personnel initiative for the judiciary. He stressed that clear political decisions must be made before the summer recess.
