German police can now search rail passengers without suspicion

Germany’s Federal Police can now stop and search people at train stations, as well as on trains, without any concrete suspicion in areas where weapon and knife bans apply. 

New German police powers in rail stations

As of October 28, Germany’s Federal Police can stop and search people at train stations and on trains without any prior suspicion, wherever weapon and knife bans apply. Under the new Federal Police Act, officers can stop individuals and search their belongings, as well as request the following personal information:

• First name(s) and surname
• Date and place of birth
• Residential address 
• Nationality
• Identification card

The checks are one of several new powers introduced under the act. The federal government (Bundesregierung) says the changes are intended to give police tools and power that respond to today's security threats, with drone defence and weapons controls as its priorities. 

Alongside stop and search, the new act allows German police to access messages on a person's phone or computer before they are encrypted or after they have been decrypted. Officers can also deploy drones equipped with image and sound recording technology.

The act further allows the Federal Police to require individuals to report to a police station if there are grounds to believe they may commit a serious criminal offence in the foreseeable future.

Profiling fears: who gets stopped?

Suspicion-free police checks can raise concerns about racial profiling in Germany, particularly when officers have greater power over deciding who to stop and search. Existing research on police encounters in Germany has highlighted differences in experiences across races.

A non-representative study by the KviAPol research project, which surveyed 3.373 people who had experienced police violence, found that 28 percent of ethnic minority participants said their police encounter was prompted by an identity check, compared with 14 percent of white participants. The findings relate to encounters outside mass events, such as arrests, traffic controls and police calls involving private conflicts.

Federal Police Commissioner Uli Grötsch has also raised concerns about discriminatory police checks. According to his activity report covering July 2025 to June 2026, 50 complaints included evidence of discrimination and racial profiling during Federal Police operations. Authorities opened investigations into 33 of these cases, most of which involved border-related checks, including at train stations.

Grötsch called for more thorough evaluation of police stops and better awareness training for officers to ensure transparent, citizen-friendly checks. However, the new Federal Police Act introduces no additional safeguards against discrimination in how officers choose who to stop at train stations and it gives police more room to make those stops.

Officers also do not have to provide individuals with a written record of their identity checks. This can make it more difficult for people who believe their stop and search was racially motivated to challenge the decision or seek legal advice.