They Have Your File

Stood at the wrong protest. Lived next to someone smoking. Your face in the wrong camera at the wrong time. The German police file you away—quietly, without asking, without telling you afterward. Most people have no idea.

The scale is quietly staggering. Seven hundred thousand people in the drug offenses category. Half for cannabis, just once, years ago. The charges got dropped, the case closed, your entry stays forever. They’re not purging anything.

You don’t have to do anything obviously wrong. Florian Boillot is a photographer. A cop shoved him during a shoot, he complained to her superior, and now he’s flagged in two databases: left-wing violent offenders and politically motivated crime. Björn Kietzmann has an immaculate record—clean as they come. Still flagged eighteen times. Once because he was standing near a firecracker that went off; police accused him of throwing it, the case dissolved, and he’s in the database. Still there.

Journalists have been denied press passes to cover protests because they photographed one a decade ago. You can do the math on how many innocent people are quietly archived. Tens of thousands, easily. The system doesn’t announce it. No notification. You’re just filed.

You can actually find out if you’re in there. It’s called a self-disclosure request—you write to the BKA and your regional police and ask what records exist. Might need a certified copy of your ID. There are templates online, sites that explain the process, tools to navigate it.

I haven’t checked. Probably should at some point.