German police officers arrested after alleged assaults on prisoners

Several police stations and flats in Frankfurt were raided on Friday in connection with allegations that officers from the same police station in the financial hub had assaulted people in custody.

The suspicions centre on 17 police officers in Frankfurt: five female officers and 12 male officers aged between 24 and 56, prosecutors said.

The Interior Minister of the state of Hesse, Roman Poseck, said  disciplinary proceedings had been initiated against the officers.

Investigators said that four offices and 21 residential addresses were searched. The officers are accused of causing unjustified physical harm to six men during or after arrests between February and the end of April this year, or of failing to report them.

In order to justify their own actions retrospectively, the officers are said to have opened preliminary investigations in five cases on suspicion of resistance to or physical assault of law enforcement officers.

Investigators say there are recordings of some of the alleged offences, partly from video surveillance in the police station, partly from bodycams or public video systems.

So far, there are no indications of any extremist motive.

"As things stand at present, the allegations focus on one duty group at the police station. This group will be completely reorganized in terms of personnel," Poseck said.

In cases where officers are classified as suspects but the findings do not justify a removal from duty, "the officers will be assigned to internal duties until further notice," he added.

The Frankfurt police headquarters identified particular anomalies in the form of several very similar criminal complaints against officers from the police station.

Frankfurt police chief Stefan Müller said he believed the investigation jeopardizes the reputation of the police: "The allegations are very serious," he said, adding that people held in state custody must be protected from harm.