Against the will of the green security chief, the SP, Greens, GLP and AL pushed through a receipt system in the city parliament. The argument is based on the example of Berlin – and with personal anecdotes.
A supposedly big problem for the left in the city: so-called racial profiling in police work.
“Do you need a receipt?” Asking a question at the checkout is as much a part of everyday shopping as saying Amen in church. Zurich city police officers should now also have to issue such documents on paper or digitally via QR code when they check people. The left-wing parties, from the SP to the Green Liberals, want to curb the allegedly rampant problem of racial profiling among the police – i.e. the actions of officials based purely on external characteristics.
The parties pushed through a corresponding initiative in the city parliament on Wednesday evening with a clear majority. Reis Luzhnica (SP) is behind the postulate. For him, who has Kosovar roots, it’s about personal things: In the debate, he describes how he was frisked by police officers in Zurich as a 14-year-old – “only because of my foreign appearance”.
His school bag and shoes were searched. Although he speaks Swiss German well, the officials spoke to him in standard German. Luzhnica considers such behavior to be a “big problem” and a “criminalization” of young people and innocent townspeople.
In the future, the city police officers will have to record minimal information on the person checked, the police officer checking the check, and the time and place on the receipt. A “reason for the control” must also be listed, as well as a reference to the possibilities for complaints.
Potential privacy issues
The demand of the red-green parties is not new. Politicians in Zurich have been discussing alleged racial profiling for years. On Wednesday evening, too, things quickly became fundamental in the council chamber. Green safety chief Karin Rykart pointed out what the police have done in recent years to take the problem seriously. “Nothing happened,” she emphasized. A comprehensive project on police work in urban areas of tension has been carried out, and NGOs meet regularly at a round table against racism.
Above all, however, an app has been developed with which police officers have been systematically recording every identity check since 2018. However, Rykart believes that it is unnecessary for those who have been checked to be given a receipt. “We’re already on the right track,” she said.
In any case, no one should be controlled according to gut feeling or discretion. Rykart underpins this with the relatively high hit rate of checks in the city: the initial suspicion is confirmed for around every third person checked. Receipts bring privacy issues, Rykart said. In addition, the controls would be longer and the administrative effort would increase.
Parliamentary initiative follows
For once, the green city councilwoman received support not from the left, but from the bourgeois side. Perparim Avdili (FDP) – he also has Albanian roots – also spoke of unjustified controls, which he keeps hearing about in his environment. However, he pointed out the possibilities for complaints that already exist today, for example with the municipal ombudsman. In addition, the police officers would be continuously sensitized to the topic.
Avdili described the receipt system as a “bureaucracy monster with zero effect”. He did not want to accept the blanket accusation made by certain leftists that all police officers are racists. “That’s just wrong.” Racism is a problem for society as a whole.
Stefan Urech (SVP) also described scenes from his youth in District 5. He was also checked there from time to time. However, he never had a “traumatizing experience like a policeman speaking High German”. On the contrary, he was always happy to have a noticeable police presence in the neighborhood. “It gives a sense of security.”
Sanija Ameti (GLP) also spoke of security, but also of trust in the institutions. With a simple measure such as a receipt, this trust in the police can be strengthened. In certain German federal states such as Berlin or Bremen, people have had good experiences with such a system. The challenges of data protection are manageable.
The city council must now examine the receipt idea more closely; he has two years to do it. To ensure that the matter is not “swept under the carpet”, the Alternative List intends to launch a parliamentary initiative on the same topic soon.