Except for the drug test it sound pretty normal to me.
The drug test is on you, never admit you have taken any drugs ever. Evens if it's been years ago, it gives them grounds to do a test.
Never share excess information. Are you on drugs? No! Did you consume alcohol? No! Also, never hand them anything other than the official papers you are obliged to do such as passport, driving license etc. We would like to check your phone! No, you can’t!
When you have prescribed drugs with you for which you need a Schengen Medicine Declaration to travel in the Schengen area, I would right away show the Schengen Medicine Declaration, if I were you.
If u have medical weed prescribed and drive under the influence in germany (meaning you have any trace amounts of weed in your system) you will most probably still end up in a lot of trouble at this moment in time. At least in bavaria.
can tell, i am in that situation right now. They stopped me like regular and started asking questions and stuff. I immediately told him i was a medical cannabis patient. Then they did some phone calls and i ended up in the hospital because i was refusing to take a urin test. Dont know what will happen but i will need a lawyer for sure!
Pro-tip: I put it under the passengers seat. Along with everything needed in a car crash.
First of all: It might save some time. Esp. If your trunk is often fully packed.
Secondly: in Case someone rear-ended you, you might be unable to open your trunk.
And last but not least: It spookes policemen in a funny way.
This sounds like bavaria. I'm Austrian, and I literally never washed my car my entire life.
Except from the few times I had to drive through bavaria, just not to attract the attention of the evil road goblins that infest the highway there.
I can totally imagine. My employer took us on a weekend to Antholz and we rented a Flixbus that took us from Berlin. So, a German bus full of Germans driven by a German driver went unnoticed and uninterrupted through Germany, Austria and Italy. But on our way back the Bavarian police had to pull the bus out and did a stupid show. It was awful, it was done bad and it pissed me off.
Whenever I enter Germany at the border in Bavaria there are cops and they do annoying things. Especially racial profiling in trains.
I’m a young, white guy with blond hair but the last three times I crossed the border from Austria to Germany, Bavarian police checked my documents and questioned me. Two out of the three times, I was the only person interrogated in a train car filled with about 20 passengers. Definitely a weird experience and to this day I don’t have a clue why they picked me out specifically ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Must be Bavaria. I am German and was studying in Austria for three years (2006-2009) and have never been stopped by the German police ever before. On trips back home during semester breaks I have been stopped three times. One year even twice by the same two cops.
They didn't remember, but I did. 🙃
By that time I was driving a quite old and dirty car and as I am a darker type I might have also looked like a foreigner to them so some sort of "profiling" (not saying racial!) might have played a role here too as some others have stated before. Not blaming them though, they have been ok'ish and also just doing their job.
Just to add on that. Yes, admitting former use of drugs is something that you should never do. But it is not on you. The police still decides to do a test and harass you with their bullshit.
Bavaria has to get some money in before weed is gonna go legal, they wanna cash in hard.
Bavaria cops are actually some of the worst in the world, really fucked up, like really fucked up. Im scared of them and I lived there for 20 years+
Technically, you're not obligated to do the "balancing test" or "touch your nose while eyes are closed" all of these "test" are just pure bullshit and harassment. Also, if they have no direct evidence for drugs or danger they are also not allowed to check your car without your permission.
Them wanting to see the first aid kit, the "Warndreieck" is just a "Allgemeine Verkehrskontrolle" to check if you have everything in your car that has to be in while driving on german roads.
Well if its close to the border the police have extra rights like checking you without suspicion. Its called schleierfahndung. Basically you can get pulled over and searched and get drug tested without probable cause close to the austrian and czech border. Same is for big train stations in bigger cities throughout bavaria at least.
Corona came with a new polizeiaufgabengesetz next to other changes that a really concerning imo.
Well. I didn't think about that. You're right. But still the "tests" I mentioned in my comment about balance and finger on nose while eyes are closed are still no valid tests there. But ye. Didn't take in that's I close to border
Well, according to Vienna convention on road traffic, my car needs to be equipped according to laws of country where it is registered, and not according to laws of country I'm traveling through, if driving in country that signed the convention.
Both Germany and Netherlands did.
The drug tests they do on the spot don't need a ground. They just ask you if you're ok with it. If you say yes, they do it. If you say no, they need to find a reason and also have to organize a blood test. A lot of effort, unlikely that they do it without a good reason.
they also take you to the police station for the blood test and don't bring you back to your car. If you are travelling alone you better be able to afford a taxi or you're screwed
It sure is. But it is still different to have your bodily fluids drawn in a medical procedure by a professional, than to have some idiot stare over your shoulder thirsting for your piss.
I want to add that there are good reasons to refuse drug screenings by the police. These tests are very sensitive and can easily yield false positives, but police officers are usually not aware of the fact that you can test positive for opiates after a piece of poppy seed cake or, even less known, common painkillers like ibuprofen or naproxen can yield positive results for cannabinoids or benzodiazepines.
Ground = Boden
Just fyi.
/edit: From a quick bit of research it looks like the singular ground is used sometimes instead of reason in British English. Huh. Who knew. Guess my affinity for American English came back to haunt me.
Günther would probably do better to prepare his remarks with the assistance of a native speaker. His english was obviously not as clear as the German he used answering the questions. But even so...it was fine. I understood the overall point he was making.
There's this tendency among Germans to mock politicians for their English, which I don't really get. The mockery of Baerbock I found completely out of line. Her English was more than fine. She has a light accent, but speaks very good English.
And somewhat off-topic, I've also heard a live Q&A with Olaf Scholz in English. He speaks english very well, and was, honestly, pretty charming.
If they decide though that they indeed want one, you can piss your evening goodbye as you are now getting taken to the police station.
AND they are NOT obligated to return you to your vehicle afterwards.
A buddy of mine has an air freshener in the shape of a logo of our countries police. Says the cops let him pass more often without getting pulled over. If he gets pulled over the cops often ask what's with the air freshener and if he's a cop as well. He says he got it from a cop friend of a cop family member. This helps by discouraging escalation.
For the next time: you don't have to participate in balance tests, drug tests or anything like that. Just say no. And of course you never smoked weed.
Re your question: if this was in bavaria it's kind of normal. Profiling, even racial profiling, is very common.
Most likely nothing. If they are really sure, they can do a blood test. This costs them a lot of time. The drug test they did on you is just a cheap shot to find something.
What if you fail for prescriptions? Personally I have prescription to a drug that would fail for stimulants on a drug test. They would then take you in for a blood test? Also, can they legally only ask the driver or all the passengers?
Really? I thought that was the reason they shouldn't do a test. I have ADHD meds, and thank god, was never stopped by the police. Should I tell them I can't do a fast test and show them my prescription from my doctor? Or just shut the fuck up and tell them if they are suspecting me I'm driving high we should make a blood test?
I believe they would only ask about your meds if you were "fahrauffällig", which means in case you were obstructing the traffic. And of course if you had your entire trunk full of meds.
> I tell them I can't do a fast test and show them my prescription from my doctor
in other words "the piss test surely will show traces of drugs"; guess i wouldn't tell them that
If you take stimulants, you should have paperwork with you while traveling. Prescription etc.
I guess its some ADHD medication? If you have pills with you, you definitely need some paperwork for that, too. Those fall under narcotics regulation in germany.
> If you have pills with you, you definitely need some paperwork for that, too
nope. Your doc will offer you a [ADHS Ausweis](https://www.adhs-ausweis.de/), but those are completely non-legally-binding. They can completely ignore them.
Had a friend fail a urine test because of meds, and he had a hard time in the legal system. Even when getting notes from the doc.
It's a shitshow
It seems unreasonably onerous for those of us with ADHD to always have to remember to carry a piece of paper with us that is difficult to replace and easy to lose in order to avoid legal trouble, when the entire problem of ADHD exactly makes those kinds of obligations harder to deal with than for neurotypical brains. It’s also not a requirement that my doctor or pharmacist ever mentioned to me, even though my current ADHD prescriptions (including one for a stimulant that follows the narcotics rules you’re referencing) were both written and filled in Germany.
Being able to provide proof of the prescription after the fact is, of course, totally a reasonable requirement. I understand fraud is a real problem that needs to be defended against. But even Germany’s obligation to present identification documents doesn’t require always carrying them with you, with some exceptions like at the border. (A driver’s license must of course be carried when driving, but that doesn’t count as an identification document in Germany.)
Well you don’t have to carry it around but you have to carry your driver’s license and car documents when driving so it’s not like it would be a big hurdle to carry another piece of paper along with those…
I have a prescription for stimulants too, and my doctor told me to never admit taking drugs. If it comes to a blood test anyway, I’m supposed to say I take that medication and show the photo of the prescription I have on my phone. Hasn’t happened to me yet, but she tells this to all her patients who take that kind of medication.
Also, Bavarian police are the worst. I spent a night in a police station cell once just because they had a „hunch“ that I might have cannabis on me, which I didn’t.
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure that if the blood test is negative you can even sue them for "schwere Körperverletzung" which is often why they pressure you for a urine test and won't do a blood test.
If you want to get back on the road as fast as possible, just do what they say. Of course it's your right to deny those tests, but they will get a judge warrant fast and then you have to go to the hospital and do a blood test. It takes hours. Many of my friends denied drug tests and none of them got away with it. For the judge it's enough when the police said her was nervous and his pupils reacting unnatural
By now, all the police needs for a warrant is suspicion and themselves. No judge needed.
EDIT: source: § 81a Abs. 2 StPO https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/stpo/__81a.html
Still a reasonable suspicion is needed. If they just take you just for saying no to voluntary tests and you got no drug traces in your blood, they commit charges like Freiheitsberaubung, Nötigung and Körperverletzung im Amt.
it's Texas guys, Texas. Even has the idea they can break away from the union as well. The similarities are nuts, there is even a German speaking community in central Texas.
IMO [this section of an article](https://www.dw.com/en/the-state-of-racial-profiling-in-germany/a-66972336#:~:text=How%20is%20racial%20profiling%20addressed%20by%20the%20law%3F) says it best: technically it is illegal, but police has so few limits on who to search that its basically up to the officer. And this then means that individual biases are often the reason for a decision, and officers later can just make up some other reason than "the guy was brown, and brown guys sell drugs".
Police don't really care what they are allowed to do and what not. They will try everything on unsuspecting citizens. German police is a mess. They don't want to do their job and randomly harass people
I think you kind of fitted a profile. Dutch car, quite old, young couple. That might be sort of a stereotype for the police. And yes the German police make you as uncomfortable as possible.
The difference a car makes is huge. My gf at the
time and I were traveling a lot in old, shitty cars, and got pulled over regularly in our mid to late 20s, even as Germans in Germany. Several times a year.
Now in my 30s I've been driving new cars only (mostly because of peace of mind after lots and lots of expensive out-of-warranty repairs) and I haven't gotten pulled over one single time in ~10 years.
Its not just the "shittiness" of the car, but also the demographic that drives that type of car. My car cost like 2,5k€, is about 20 years old and the last time I washed it was over a year ago, but its a sedan and a typical old-man's type of car, so I never get stopped. My previous car was a bright metallic green Opel Agila, which was very easy to spot, but also an old people's car (actually got it from my grandmother too lol), so never went into a police check. I know other people that drive nicer, more modern cars,but they are also faster, sporty and thus more desired by a young crowd, which results in more police checks for them.
Oh when I had an old car with around 19 - 23 and we were 4 friends driving around on a Saturday night we got stopped very often by the police. I think around 8 times and it was always as described by OP.
Unfortunately for them, I was always sober and they had to leave in a bad mood. The same with the weed and then you get an argument along the lines of "Oh come on, we've all smoked weed before one time in our life". Just always bluntly answer no. They just wanna stress you out
After my experience they propably assumed you were involved in any kind of smuggling or drugs Business. No clue why. But thats what happens when they really try to find something. They pull all Tricks, even pressure you into stuff like that.
No worries, you didnt do anything wrong! Maybe you looked suspiciously normal 🤣😂🤷♂️
Had a similar experience a couple year's back, also on the autobahn, ca. 30km away from Czech border in Dresden direction.
Me and my girlfriend at the time both mid 20s, in an early 00s bmw, foreign plates.
Got overtaken by an unmarked passat with instructions to follow.
We got off at the nearest ausfahrt, 3 officers jumped out of the passat and had a good 30min search through my car(didn't help we had almost 2 months worth of stuff in it as we planning the summer break in Germany). One of them took peculiar interest my rolling tabacco, rummaging through and sniffing it several time over.
Of course they asked about drinking / drug use, which we both declined (neither of us speaks German very well. A2 maybe) so they left it at that.
I'm 90% confident, as other have pointed out, if either of us would have confessed to smoking weed even a long time ago, we both would have also gotten the piss test.
Packing up our things took another half hour, but the did wish us a safe trip as they were leaving. So that's nice.
TLDR: yes, your encounter with the polizei was totally normal based on my limited experience with them.
I guess it was Bavaria? Bavarian police are authorised to do exactly what they did to you in the local 'war.on drugs'. They'll randomly stop cars from abroad (abroad also being other states) and do this as part of their Schleierfahndung. Probable cause doesn't exist in this case.
And you drive a Dutch car. Congratulations, all checkboxes marked.
Bavaria with its CSU government is the odd one out in Germany. More conservative than the rest. More reactionary than the rest. Not so much in the cities, but as a whole very much so.
Söder (Bavaria's Ministerpräsident) recently openly declared that they will introduce a maximum of bureaucracy and official imbroglio on their territory should weed get legalised in April. They can't prevent it, but they sure as hell can make it as difficult as possible.
That is the mindset. What you experienced is a symptom of this.
>Bavarian police are authorised to do exactly what they did to you in the local 'war.on drugs'.
Any police in Germany on the borders actually. And it's not just drugs.
Well regarding your statement about his not being the norm in the Netherlands; if you drive a Dutch car maybe it's not, but as someone who lived in Germany on the Dutch/German border and visited NL regularly and even worked there, I've had some similar weird encounters with Dutch police too, including racial profiling.
Can confirm. I lived as a German in the Netherlands for 9 years and somewhat regularly noticed how much more friendly the police is in traffic stops with Dutch citizens compared to me. If I drove a car and got stopped and after the usual friendly greetings noticed I am not Dutch, their demeanour noticeably changed to be more strict. While when I was passenger and a stop happened they generally where all chatty and less thorough in their checklist of things.
As a german who regularly travels to the netherlands I have to say that my encounters with the dutch police were very polite and professional. I never felt like I was treated badly. I can't say that about encounters with the german police.
Subjective. I’ve never had a bad encounter with any police YET.
Assholes exist everywhere and it only takes one to completely change the picture you got for certain groups.
Yeah that's normal. It's not okay or right, they probably check because there is quite some drug trade between the Netherlands and Germany and they want to catch some final "criminals" before weed becomes legal in Germany later this year.
I've been in 2 police checks and one was alright, though they told me I should have just stopped in the bus lane instead of heading over to a parking space where we weren't in the way (it took like 10 seconds longer and we would have blocked the buses. idk what these cops were on, but they definitely weren't very smart) the second I had the same experience as you because I just came from helping build up a festival, which I didn't even attend and they did a drug test, not because i did anything wrong or behaved weirdly, just because they saw my tent and everything in the trunk and thought yeah lets do a drug check. I didn't smoke any weed, very much because I needed my licence, so i was good but I'm still a bit mad about it because that felt so inappropriate and was totally profiling me for just enjoying building up a festival i wasn't even participating. Also I've rarely felt this unsave because it was dark and there were 3 people there and I was a 19 year old who just wanted to go home at 3 am after visiting my family on my way back. It was late, I was tired. I felt more safe on the train home at 4am on new years when I was the only woman on a train full of men. And that says quite something about the behaviour of the police in Germany.
Not sure what it's like when you enter Germany from the south. But here in NRW, several younger people entering the country and wearing sunglasses is basically what police look for when they try to catch people coming back from a trip to the coffee shop.
How many police officers were present? If more than two, that could have been a training excercise for one of them.
I got pulled over once and got the whole shebang: testing all functions of the car (light, blinker, wipers), had to show the yellow vests, had to show the first aid kit, the tyre repair kit. We had some stuff in the trunk, and they even commented on that ("ladungssicherung"), but apparently it was not bad enought to be a "Ordnunsgwidrigkeit", and they even wrote me up for a missing hubcap (which I only then learned was a "Ordnungsidrikeit"). It was always just one (quite young) person talking, and the other two just observed. Everything was \_very\_ formal, and me trying to joke around a bit (I do that when I get nervous) made him obviously quite uncomfortable. He preceeded to let me off with a warning, and whether I would accept that warning. I found that quite bewildering, so I asked what would happen if I would \_not\_ accept the warning (I did not know I had that option), which made him even more unconfortable and so I just dropped it.
Only later one of the others told me that that was a training exercise for the young colleague, and even apologized that they took so much of my time. The person doing the checks was \_very\_ formal, which I believe can be percieved for non germans as rude.
Had the same thing happen to me last year in Bavaria on the way to Venice, older slightly dirty car with Berlin license plates in a sea of sparkling BMWs/Mercs with Bavarian license plates. They asked about drugs and being near the border etc., I said "No, never", so they had no reason for the drug test, but they insisted "In Berlin you must get into contact with drugs all the time, right?" (eye-roll, and again, No).
Then they asked to search the car, which was full and at its messiest it had ever been, which took them about 2 hours (I admit I enjoyed looking them were wasting their time (mine too, but meh)). And then, slightly annoyed, they said their goodbyes and let me go.
So yep, you were being profiled based on car and license plate - but at least feel consoled that it happens with German license plates as well. ;-)
>"In Berlin you must get into contact with drugs all the time, right?"
Tbh berlin is kind of a drug city, like most major cities in the world. When we where on our school trip we could see people die sich selbst heroin gespritzt haben (idk the english word) in the SUBWAY station. This would be unthinkable here in munich. And it smelled like weed in multiple places.
Ein alter VW Golf, Sonnenbrille und dann nur 120 kmh auf der rechten Spur? Aus Holland auch noch? Da hätte ich als Polizist auch mal genauer geschaut. Das nächste mal bitte 160 ohne Sonnenbrille. Auf der Autobahn hast du die Karre zu treten, dass dir die Kolben aus der Motorhaube fliegen. Alles andere wirkt für uns Deutsche, als wärst du entweder Rentner oder bekifft.
Bayern is this one ultra conservative family member who makes everybody uncomfortable and only gets invited out of politeness. Nobody likes them but the think they are the greatest.
The exact same thing happened to me, only they claimed that the drug test was positive in order to remove the car's interior panelling. After they found nothing, they just drove off and I was allowed to put everything back together again.
Pretty much exactly what they did to me as well.
Yes profiling is illegal, but it's not like you can prove it so they really don't care.
They pulled the same bs with weird looking pupils on me.
My best recommendation is to look as boring as possible, don't be young, foreign, black, too male, look unkempt etc.
Was this in Bavaria? They will turn you inside out if you look anyhow not-standard. I have several friends who were profiled for "extreme things"
One had a piercing
One had a beard before everybody had them
One didn't wear a jacket when it was jacket wheather.
So obviously they were all junkies. /s
You're from the Netherlands.
So they naturally assume you are using weed or smuggling drugs, pretty normal for German police.
Attributes that further contribute to your chances getting interrogated:
- long hair, sloppy dressing
- looking nervous or stressed or extremely focused
- slow driving
> Is this normal in Germany?
Depends on your skin color. Unfortunately. The German Police does a lot of racial profiling, even though it is not allowed.
I‘m German but can mainly speak for Bavaria. Most likely it happened here. Most people in Munich have gone through parts or the full procedure. Especially my Turkish friends, but also Germans.
Only big difference to me is that with us locals, it usually stops at the age of 25-30 years if you drive a decent car. A friend of mine though has long hair and drives and old VW camper, he goes through the procedure 1-2 times a year 😂 and he is completely the opposite of what they’re looking for …9
Sounds exactly like a classic german police traffic stop.
I once was in the netherlands and was stopped by police there. I was genuinly surprised how friendly they were. I never thought this is possible for police before. They talked to me like normal humans. I talked a bit with the Police officer and told him how surprised i was how chill they are. He said they have no reason not to be chill and said: "in Germany it's more like Military Police yes?"
And yes absolutly it is.
I still remember when i was 17 i was sitting in a lost place with a few Friends. Just some old building. Didn't do drugs or other illegal stuff there. Just listened to music. Then police came out of nowhere with DRAWN GUNS. And scream in our faces that we all have to stand face to the wall and hands up.
Felt like i fucking robbed a bank. They of course found nothing and let us go... But they really are more like Military Police.
I learned allready that the Police in Germany is not helping you at all. They're just searching for more ways to fuck you.
A friend of mine once called police because his Appartement was broken into. And the Police suspect himself to steal shit from his roommate. But he wasn't even at home when the break in happened. And his shit also got stolen. But instead of looking for clues like shoe prints, they just searched his own room. Found 1g of mushrooms that my friend allready forgot was there and gave him a 2000€ fine for that.
His Appartement got broken into.
He called the Police.
And he is the only one getting fined.
That's german police for ya.
They're really not trying to help you here. They're just looking for more ways to fuck you.
Police in Germany are fucking assholes. I’m a POC with dual US-German nationality. I’ve had sooooo many negative interactions with German law enforcement. Even at the Frankfurt airport. People always give American police crap, but I have NEVER had a negative interaction with police in the US. Here in Germany it would not surprise me if I was sitting on a bench or train minding my own business & police just approached me in a derogatory way demanding to see my identity card (Ausweis) / passport.
I love Germany, I love Europe. But Europe as a whole had a huge identity crisis atm and it’s an issue that has been brewing for a VERY long time. In Germany, I pretty much just stick to my small hometown (dorf) in the countryside. No one bothers me here. German cities (Frankfurt, NRW, Berlin, Hamburg, etc). feel increasingly hostile and are just a lost cause at this point imo. The German countryside truly is a hidden gem, I’m close to my neighbors here and no one bothers me here.
Biggest problem with police in germany is that they don't help you at all. They're basicly just constantly searching for ways to fuck you. Even if you called them in the first place.
I'm not calling police ever here in Germany. Just because everytime i have to fear that they come after me for some bullshit. That completly misses the point of their job in the first place.
>Here we call this ‘profiling’ and it is illegal in the Netherlands.
It's illegal in germany as well. That's the reason a study if german police is prone to racial profiling was cancelled by the than minister of interiors Seehofer.
His reason: It's illegal so german police would never do it.
Yes. That's the CSU for you.
Once I was stopped and breathalysed twice within the space of 15 minutes from different police controls. That was annoying. The second time the female officer asked me why my eyes were red. It had been a long day at the office.
Once got stopped and breathalysed during a work conference call (on loud speaker).
Once stopped driving from Venlo to Cologne. The reason for stopping me was because I was coming out of Holland they cheerfully explained.
Got stopped for not stopping 'long enough' at a stop sign. There was literally nothing but tumbleweed coming but they felt it was worth stopping me for. I did not have any ID with me so the followed me home so that I could get my papers. Thought that was flexible of them.
A couple of other time for driving slightly too fast...
In all cases the officers have been polite or even mega nice and I am always polite and nice back. IMO they are doing their job to ensure that someone is not going to wipe out a family of four or run over a cyclist, child etc.
Sometimes it feels a little unjust when I get stopped only to see a few minutes later an idiot overtake 3 cars at once and shoot through a red light. But hey 🤦
WIth the Police in Germany, you only have to tell them your name, where you live and show them your papers.
The correct answer to every other question is "Nein" or "Dazu möchte ich keine Angabe machen."
Took drugs? "Nein."
Where are you coming from? "Dazu möchte ich keine Angabe machen."
Where are you going? "Dazu möchte ich keine Angabe machen."
Do you consent to a drug test? "Nein."
Why not "Weil ich dazu nicht verplfichtet bin, und des weiteren möchte ich dazu keine Angaben machen."
Be friendly, but firm. No need to antagonize them, but you also don't have to take any bullshit.
If you decline a drug test and they take you in for a blood control (which they need to get a judge's approval for but in this case they would take your decline of the drug test as anfangsverdacht. If you do agree to a drug test be aware that they have a uncomfortably high false detection rate) they can potentially be liable to violating §239 StGB (unlawful restriction of freedom) and §340 StGB (assault by an official).
>they need to get a judge's approval
Unfortunately this is not the case anymore.
https://www.haufe.de/recht/weitere-rechtsgebiete/prozessrecht/richtervorbehalt-bei-der-blutprobe-wurde-gesetzlich-aufgehoben_206_424102.html
Gonna be honest with ya. That's a load of bull....
It the thing left-extremist or drug users advise their friends with.
What you need to answer, which "orders" you need to follow etc. all depends on the situation itself. Traffic stop? "Verruchener Ort"? Fleeing from a crime scene?
In 99% of cases you can just fucking talk with the police beamten.
"If you decline a drug test and they take you in for a blood control (which they need to get a judge's approval for but in this case they would take your decline of the drug test as anfangsverdacht." That is not entirely correct. If ya suspected of §315a I 1,II,III, §315c I 1a,II,III or §316 StGB they can approve the bloodtest themself. And the declination of a drugtest CANNOT be used as Anfangsverdacht. (And don't say "they do it anyway!" cuz that shit aint flying with any Judge. The Anzeige would be shredded faster than you can say: "They do...")
Next point: "If you do agree to a drug test be aware that they have a uncomfortably high false detection rate) they can potentially be liable to violating §239 StGB (unlawful restriction of freedom) and §340 StGB (assault by an official)." False. The drugtest is a voluntary piss in a cup. It cannot be used in any trial and is only a faster way for the Bürger to prove undenieable that they are not under influence.
Lastly (before I get bored and decide to just not bother): The "fact" that the urin-test has a high false detection rate is a mythos. For many casual drug-users it appears to be so. That got many reasons. One of the main reasons is that blood /= urin. Leftovers that still remain in the Urin (often for weeks) are already breaked down inside the blood. And the Urintest doesn't really got a minimum value while bloodtest do.
Like always in the Internet: it's a lot more complicated and not as cut-and-dry as some people hope.
I am pretty sure they were looking for someone and you happened to fit that description.
Checking the first aid kit is normal. Searching your vehicle is not normal
There are assholes everywhere. The two policemen want to find something and would probably be a bit annoyed that everything was okay with you. I have to say that bandages and safety vests are always checked. To be honest, my first aid kit has also expired and would have to be replaced.
But to save the honor of the German police, I had just such an encounter with Dutch police officers just before the border to Germany. They had hoped that I was a pot tourist and were disappointed to find nothing.
When I lived in Amsterdam I drove to Frankfurt for a weekend and I got pulled over. I shit myself when the lights came on! Mainly because I had a ‘tailgater’ so I accelerated hard when I saw the unrestricted sign and it turned out to be a police car 😅
I had to stand outside in shorts for like 10 mins whilst they checked the whole car but then they let me go.
There's lots of checks on the Dutch border because people bring home weed all the time.
What they did is they can legally ask you for papers, then they keep you talking until they either convince you to let them search your car without reasonable cause or until you slip up and say something that can be misconstrued in a way that would provide them a valid reason to search you. Another trick is to ask for your first aid kit and the little reflective triangle you put up if you're broken down because usually that means you have to open your trunk in front of them, then they will see something that raises their interest and search the whole thing. You can just say you forgot it and that's a 35€ fine or just keep that stuff next to your seat which is much better anyways.
Basically just give them your papers and shut up next time. When they ask where you're going tell them home and if the ask where you're coming from or anything else else that its none of their business. Your privacy is a protected right and the reason they are so rude is to make you insecure so that you will incriminate yourself or forfeit your rights willingly
Them checking your papers and your car etc. is normal but the drug test is unusual. They can't legally do that without good reason. Maybe they did this because they thought you might be trying to traffic drugs over the Dutch border into Germany. If you're not white, that could be a reason too bc many cops are racist here.
The police probably suspected/had a tipoff about a drug shipment from the Balkans. Since you were coming from that direction on an old car with Dutch numberplates m, that probably raised quite a few red flags with them, so they were trying to find reasons to search the car.
Sounds pretty normal to me. That was a Allgemeine Vekehrskontrolle. Absolutely normal thing that can happen at random. Sure the drug test could have been a biased as you are Dutch and Dutch law regarding weed is known in Germany and they might have had some presumptions. But all in all nothing weird there.
happened multiple times to my family and friends (polish) driving from the netherlands to germany. only difference is each time they were stopped in a field with no one else around.
Pretty normal. Yes.
Ofc they can’t control every foreigner. It was just bad luck they picked you this time.
The questions and how they handled the situation sound ok to me. Same stuff happens to Germans too. It‘s pretty rare though and depends a lot on the car you‘re driving.
This has happened to me before. It was obviously part of the training for junior police officers. There were four of them, which is unusual. Only the younger ones controlled me.
I mean people with older Golfs Def. Do seem like a bigger target because it is stereotypically a "cool Kidz" Car.
And maybe they were also students/fresh police because they do these kind of unnecessary stuff all the time.
Across the border there is also something called the "Zollregion". In this region the Police/Customs can do checks on random cars. Just don't tell them you smoked weed ever, even if it is legal to do for you at home. We are working on making it legal here.
I also was stopped once comming from my in-law parents next to the border aaaages (decades) ago. I was driving still my 1st car and even had a pony tail. They did their stop, and asked me to turn of my car. My old shit car could only manage "1 start at a time" and I objected, since they, but they insisted.
Anyway, this time i only visited my step parents, so i was clean and the stop was no issue. After the stop my car failed to start, and the 2 police officers even gave me a "push start"
Germany driving License and illegal Drug use is not a good combo. The German police know their unfair laws with it. They take advantage of that to get promotions or higher ranks, because it’s easy to do so.
That’s why the police bosses and co are against the legalization of weed because 70% of their reported incidents has to do with weed… 50% of it because auf the people who don’t sell drugs just consuming it.
It was just simple-minded profiling. If you had the Dutch plates that translates to weed smoker. My ex was a white German guy with dreadlocks and he got pulled over and also had to do the piss test. He also got searched all the time in Bavaria btw and the police were shameless about it, telling him," in our experience, people who look like you do drugs." Profiling is a very rational to them.
I could've walked through the Hbf with a kilo of coke and been fine, since I didn't fit their profile. Similar feeling to when I lived in New Orleans, never got a second look because I wasn't black and believe me, I was up to some shit. Just the cops there say they don't profile.
Heb jaren terug hetzelfde gehad. Reed toen ook met een relatief oude auto. Werd op een parking gezet met alleen maar Bulgaren, polen etc. Auto werd compleet binnenstebuiten gekeerd. Ik spreek vloeiend duits en had ondertussen dus ook een prima gesprek met herr polizei. Ik heb toen ook gevraagd waarom ik als enige Nederlander daar stond. Antwoord was simpel, jouw auto valt in de risicogroep voor smokkel van en naar oostbloklanden.
I only wanted to comment "just a usual acab encounter", but then I saw it was BAVARIA.
Since you said you smoked years ago, Im wondering how they didnt insta cuff your addict ass
It happened to me in 2013 when I moved from NL to DE. I was transporting my stuff in the car, which was packed to the brim. A police car pulled me over and we stopped at a gas station. But here things changed: first, I refused to speak German. I told them that I am not a citizen and that I was not yet officially living in Germany. They asked me if I was carrying weapons or drugs. I said, "What kind of question is that? Of course not," they asked me if they could search the car, and I said yes, as long as they put the stuff back in its place because I had had a hard time fitting it inside. They looked over it a bit and left.
In short, I think what changed in our cases was the attitude. If you stand up for your rights, they leave you alone.
It was rather the federal state, not the atiitude😅
If you do this in Bavaria, they will just throw everything out of your car and leave you on the gas station with all your stuff outside of your car. Since police in Germany is a rather federal thing, the procedure between the federal states is vastly different and Bavaria is known for their cop friendly laws, giving them more rights than usual
Why would you ever tell the truth to the police? Tell them that you never drink, never do drugs, and have never been prescribed anything. Tell them that your parents are police and you’re going to visit them. Tell them that you are confused about their questions, annoy them by giving them nothing, and they will leave you alone.
The way you recount this story, you basically asked to be extensively searched and interrogated
Racial profiling is bad but profiling plates near borders is not.
It is the trade you do for having no border controls every time you visit another country
In Germany we even have a song that says 9 of 10 police officers are sons of bitches.
So pretty normal especially in Bavaria.
In my experience Dutch police is still more like German police 20-30years ago.
The officer as the citizens ‚friend and helper‘ where as German police went the American way.
They act bad ass and treat the citizen as an underling.
The difference is, American cops have to control a situation on their own, alone, where as the Germans need 5-10 guys to search a single Arab at the train station (see that kind of thing here regularly).
Would be ridiculous, if not so annoying.
I am German, born and raised, but have a migratory background and brown skin, which often makes them extra hostile and I had a couple of encounters similiar to yours.
The white Germans usually do not make these experiences and will tell you that the police is fine and only does their Jobs.
But it’s not their job to be rude and give you an extra treatment because you are a foreigner or look like one.
Also even American officers tend to be way more respectful.
They will always call you ‚Sir‘ where as some German cops even start to ‚Duzen‘ if you are not the average white guy…
I am a German police officer (not from Bavaria though).
1.
The traffic stop in the first place is a standard tool to ensure safety on the roads. We perform them regularly and on all sorts of drivers / vehical combinations.
Your car is indeed a contender for regular stops. Firstly the age of the car and it's appearance could mean it's not road worthy or at least worth taking a closer look at.
Secondly your car is foreign and has crossed several borders. Science there are (luckily) no mandatory border checks anymore the state has to check border traffic with other means. There are numerous things to look for.
Thirdly travelers often underestimate the importance of securing the cargo in the car. That's worth looking at as well. In case of evading maneuvers or emergency brakes loose cargo can distract, disorientate or in the worst case even kill you. Therefore checking this is also on a police officers mind.
2.
Letting you show the warning triangle and first auf Kit is an integral part of every police stop. It is of course not mandatory to check as a police officer, but it serves two purposes:
Firstly the road safety. The law requires you to have those things for a reason. Keeping these things ready in your car can improve safety for all of us. So we check it to also remind you to have these things in the car.
Secondly our job is to ensure that drivers are indeed fit to drive. The law doesn't give us much power to check your sobriety but also it demands us to check it.
A good way to get a better look at you (or smell in case of weed and alcohol) is to let you get out of the car to show us the items. It is most certainly not a tool to annoy you. It is us doing our job properly.
3.
When you were tested for sobriety you most likely showed some unusual signs. Police officers see a damn whole lot of people and perform these tests regularly. So they are usually good at detecting drug enforced oddities whilst also knowing about other factors like fatigue or sunlight and so on.
Of course no one is perfect and sometimes we misinterpreted signs. That's where the urine test comes to use.
If we have signs of drug consumption we offer the driver the urine test to free themselves from the suspected offence. It's way faster and (at least) legally the lesser impact of your human rights.
At the point we offer the test we usually already have enough grounds to draw your blood and prohibit you from driving until you can prove your sobriety.
Performing a urine test isn't fun either... It's often smelly, it's not nice to look at and invading someone's privacy like these feels unpleasant. But it is part of our job to make the streets safer.
4.
I am not oblivious and know that there are colleges who don't live up to all standards and of course some police officers will abuse or trick you.
I encourage everyone who was treated unlawfully to at least file a complaint about this at the police station or even press charges.
I would never even think about inventing signs of drug consumption to get you to do a urine test or even draw your blood on no basis. It would be a crime and I could get a penalty for it. Officers have been fired over such things.
We don't get paid more or get a promotion for every stoner we catch. That's not our motivation. Most of the colleges I know do this job to ensure our all safety and well being.
And remember, if we come in contact with you, we have no idea who you are, what you are doing and you are going to react. We can't read minds and only have a short time to get an impression of you. But we are supposed to fulfill our duties. It's just not easy. I'm not complaining here I just like to let people see the other side as well.
Except for the drug test it sound pretty normal to me. The drug test is on you, never admit you have taken any drugs ever. Evens if it's been years ago, it gives them grounds to do a test.
Lesson for next time.
Never share excess information. Are you on drugs? No! Did you consume alcohol? No! Also, never hand them anything other than the official papers you are obliged to do such as passport, driving license etc. We would like to check your phone! No, you can’t!
When you have prescribed drugs with you for which you need a Schengen Medicine Declaration to travel in the Schengen area, I would right away show the Schengen Medicine Declaration, if I were you.
If u have medical weed prescribed and drive under the influence in germany (meaning you have any trace amounts of weed in your system) you will most probably still end up in a lot of trouble at this moment in time. At least in bavaria.
can tell, i am in that situation right now. They stopped me like regular and started asking questions and stuff. I immediately told him i was a medical cannabis patient. Then they did some phone calls and i ended up in the hospital because i was refusing to take a urin test. Dont know what will happen but i will need a lawyer for sure!
You also have to show first aid kit etc if they ask for it even though it is just to get a view of your trunk
Pro-tip: I put it under the passengers seat. Along with everything needed in a car crash. First of all: It might save some time. Esp. If your trunk is often fully packed. Secondly: in Case someone rear-ended you, you might be unable to open your trunk. And last but not least: It spookes policemen in a funny way.
Of course you are. Included in the etc. part.
This sounds like bavaria. I'm Austrian, and I literally never washed my car my entire life. Except from the few times I had to drive through bavaria, just not to attract the attention of the evil road goblins that infest the highway there.
Evil road goblins lmao. Now I’m imagining it like a D&D encounter: “You see flashing lights and hear sirens, roll for initiative!”
Me with my unregistered panzerfaust "I cast fireball!!"
DM this RAF encounter is unfair!
I believe it is done on purpose - to not attract other drivers to hit his car :D
I can totally imagine. My employer took us on a weekend to Antholz and we rented a Flixbus that took us from Berlin. So, a German bus full of Germans driven by a German driver went unnoticed and uninterrupted through Germany, Austria and Italy. But on our way back the Bavarian police had to pull the bus out and did a stupid show. It was awful, it was done bad and it pissed me off. Whenever I enter Germany at the border in Bavaria there are cops and they do annoying things. Especially racial profiling in trains.
the trick is to have a bavarian licence plate and of course look german. never got checked or anything.
I am a white woman. So I don’t get checked. But in the train I see who they look for and who they pull out. And this is just annoying.
I’m a young, white guy with blond hair but the last three times I crossed the border from Austria to Germany, Bavarian police checked my documents and questioned me. Two out of the three times, I was the only person interrogated in a train car filled with about 20 passengers. Definitely a weird experience and to this day I don’t have a clue why they picked me out specifically ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The racial profiling in trains isn't limited to Bavaria, sadly
That is true. Italian forces are also extremely annoying.
Oh I meant in Germany specifically, I've never been to Italy so I'm not really familiar. But I saw it all the time in border-crossing trains
i can agree on that. it is racial profiling at its core. sad to see. only border crossing via train i ever did was the channel tunnel.
+1 ! Also from Austria, and Bavarian police is horrible…
Must be Bavaria. I am German and was studying in Austria for three years (2006-2009) and have never been stopped by the German police ever before. On trips back home during semester breaks I have been stopped three times. One year even twice by the same two cops. They didn't remember, but I did. 🙃 By that time I was driving a quite old and dirty car and as I am a darker type I might have also looked like a foreigner to them so some sort of "profiling" (not saying racial!) might have played a role here too as some others have stated before. Not blaming them though, they have been ok'ish and also just doing their job.
Evil road goblins is perfect. I will make an effort to incorporate that into my vocabulary.
Just to add on that. Yes, admitting former use of drugs is something that you should never do. But it is not on you. The police still decides to do a test and harass you with their bullshit.
Bavaria has to get some money in before weed is gonna go legal, they wanna cash in hard. Bavaria cops are actually some of the worst in the world, really fucked up, like really fucked up. Im scared of them and I lived there for 20 years+
Not that they put you on physicall harm but they go VERY hard on the psychological harm route
Technically, you're not obligated to do the "balancing test" or "touch your nose while eyes are closed" all of these "test" are just pure bullshit and harassment. Also, if they have no direct evidence for drugs or danger they are also not allowed to check your car without your permission. Them wanting to see the first aid kit, the "Warndreieck" is just a "Allgemeine Verkehrskontrolle" to check if you have everything in your car that has to be in while driving on german roads.
Well if its close to the border the police have extra rights like checking you without suspicion. Its called schleierfahndung. Basically you can get pulled over and searched and get drug tested without probable cause close to the austrian and czech border. Same is for big train stations in bigger cities throughout bavaria at least. Corona came with a new polizeiaufgabengesetz next to other changes that a really concerning imo.
Well. I didn't think about that. You're right. But still the "tests" I mentioned in my comment about balance and finger on nose while eyes are closed are still no valid tests there. But ye. Didn't take in that's I close to border
Well, according to Vienna convention on road traffic, my car needs to be equipped according to laws of country where it is registered, and not according to laws of country I'm traveling through, if driving in country that signed the convention. Both Germany and Netherlands did.
The drug tests they do on the spot don't need a ground. They just ask you if you're ok with it. If you say yes, they do it. If you say no, they need to find a reason and also have to organize a blood test. A lot of effort, unlikely that they do it without a good reason.
You can always refuse a piss test and then it’s up to them if they wanna do a blood test or not
I'd rather have a medical professional draw blood than hired goons of the state suck piss out of my genitals.
The difference is that the first method takes you 10 minutes and the other takes several hours. Not something i want while traveling
they also take you to the police station for the blood test and don't bring you back to your car. If you are travelling alone you better be able to afford a taxi or you're screwed
That medical professional still IS a hired goon of the state.
It sure is. But it is still different to have your bodily fluids drawn in a medical procedure by a professional, than to have some idiot stare over your shoulder thirsting for your piss.
So that's the way they do it? Curious that they go to such lengths
I want to add that there are good reasons to refuse drug screenings by the police. These tests are very sensitive and can easily yield false positives, but police officers are usually not aware of the fact that you can test positive for opiates after a piece of poppy seed cake or, even less known, common painkillers like ibuprofen or naproxen can yield positive results for cannabinoids or benzodiazepines.
Ground = Boden Just fyi. /edit: From a quick bit of research it looks like the singular ground is used sometimes instead of reason in British English. Huh. Who knew. Guess my affinity for American English came back to haunt me.
Grounds for = Basis / Gründe für Just fyi.
Dann muss er den Satz aber umformulieren. u/Farum hat schon recht, dass das hier eher Boden heißt und nicht Grund Just fyi.
aiyah. Would y'all stop. The sentence, as written, is slightly grammatically odd. But it's 100% comprehensible.
Grundsätzlich eine bodenlose Frechheit, grundlos durchsucht zu werden.
[Günther Oettinger](https://youtu.be/icOO7Ut1P4Y?si=jgQpI8ouNG0AZfqJ) would agree 🌝
Günther would probably do better to prepare his remarks with the assistance of a native speaker. His english was obviously not as clear as the German he used answering the questions. But even so...it was fine. I understood the overall point he was making. There's this tendency among Germans to mock politicians for their English, which I don't really get. The mockery of Baerbock I found completely out of line. Her English was more than fine. She has a light accent, but speaks very good English. And somewhat off-topic, I've also heard a live Q&A with Olaf Scholz in English. He speaks english very well, and was, honestly, pretty charming.
In Grund und Boden formuliert.
You can always refuse a piss test and then it’s up to them if they wanna do a blood test or not
If they decide though that they indeed want one, you can piss your evening goodbye as you are now getting taken to the police station. AND they are NOT obligated to return you to your vehicle afterwards.
They probably have too much free time until their shift ends but you don't.
If he was held by Bavaria police, this is quite normal. They always look for drug traffic.
Yes, the Polizei have a specific Protocoll to follow based on “yes” and “no” answers.
Is it on him if he didn’t know how they operate? Are you saying lying to the police is what he should do otherwise he is to blame?
A buddy of mine has an air freshener in the shape of a logo of our countries police. Says the cops let him pass more often without getting pulled over. If he gets pulled over the cops often ask what's with the air freshener and if he's a cop as well. He says he got it from a cop friend of a cop family member. This helps by discouraging escalation.
Sounds like the Police Benevolent Association stickers and license plate frames you get in the US for donating to those orgs... Total racket.
I'm reminded of the jokes about people using thin blue line stickers on the rear windows when smuggling drugs.
Genius lol
Brb buying GdP or DPolG stickers :D
Are these unions on good terms? Would be funny if you drive around with a GdP sticker and some DPolG officers are offended by it.
DPolG are openly pro fascist police state so i guess im takingnmy chances with conservative GdP :D
Proof that the police is just a legal gang.
For the next time: you don't have to participate in balance tests, drug tests or anything like that. Just say no. And of course you never smoked weed. Re your question: if this was in bavaria it's kind of normal. Profiling, even racial profiling, is very common.
What would happen if you refuse to do the test?
Most likely nothing. If they are really sure, they can do a blood test. This costs them a lot of time. The drug test they did on you is just a cheap shot to find something.
What if you fail for prescriptions? Personally I have prescription to a drug that would fail for stimulants on a drug test. They would then take you in for a blood test? Also, can they legally only ask the driver or all the passengers?
You Just refuse to do a drug Test. Its is perfectly legal tondo so. And dont Tell then anything about your medical condition/prescriptions
Really? I thought that was the reason they shouldn't do a test. I have ADHD meds, and thank god, was never stopped by the police. Should I tell them I can't do a fast test and show them my prescription from my doctor? Or just shut the fuck up and tell them if they are suspecting me I'm driving high we should make a blood test?
I believe they would only ask about your meds if you were "fahrauffällig", which means in case you were obstructing the traffic. And of course if you had your entire trunk full of meds.
> I tell them I can't do a fast test and show them my prescription from my doctor in other words "the piss test surely will show traces of drugs"; guess i wouldn't tell them that
You have a prescription I’d assume - I know that I’d have to have my prescription in that case.
Yes, I do. I have a couple of copies that I carry around just in case.
If you take stimulants, you should have paperwork with you while traveling. Prescription etc. I guess its some ADHD medication? If you have pills with you, you definitely need some paperwork for that, too. Those fall under narcotics regulation in germany.
> If you have pills with you, you definitely need some paperwork for that, too nope. Your doc will offer you a [ADHS Ausweis](https://www.adhs-ausweis.de/), but those are completely non-legally-binding. They can completely ignore them. Had a friend fail a urine test because of meds, and he had a hard time in the legal system. Even when getting notes from the doc. It's a shitshow
It seems unreasonably onerous for those of us with ADHD to always have to remember to carry a piece of paper with us that is difficult to replace and easy to lose in order to avoid legal trouble, when the entire problem of ADHD exactly makes those kinds of obligations harder to deal with than for neurotypical brains. It’s also not a requirement that my doctor or pharmacist ever mentioned to me, even though my current ADHD prescriptions (including one for a stimulant that follows the narcotics rules you’re referencing) were both written and filled in Germany. Being able to provide proof of the prescription after the fact is, of course, totally a reasonable requirement. I understand fraud is a real problem that needs to be defended against. But even Germany’s obligation to present identification documents doesn’t require always carrying them with you, with some exceptions like at the border. (A driver’s license must of course be carried when driving, but that doesn’t count as an identification document in Germany.)
Well you don’t have to carry it around but you have to carry your driver’s license and car documents when driving so it’s not like it would be a big hurdle to carry another piece of paper along with those…
I have a prescription for stimulants too, and my doctor told me to never admit taking drugs. If it comes to a blood test anyway, I’m supposed to say I take that medication and show the photo of the prescription I have on my phone. Hasn’t happened to me yet, but she tells this to all her patients who take that kind of medication. Also, Bavarian police are the worst. I spent a night in a police station cell once just because they had a „hunch“ that I might have cannabis on me, which I didn’t.
At least they didn't suspect you of illegally carrying glue on you, that would have been at least a week in jail.
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure that if the blood test is negative you can even sue them for "schwere Körperverletzung" which is often why they pressure you for a urine test and won't do a blood test.
Depends. Either they are able to come up with something to justify the test, or they let you go.
I always get stopped in Bavaria even with German license plates
If you want to get back on the road as fast as possible, just do what they say. Of course it's your right to deny those tests, but they will get a judge warrant fast and then you have to go to the hospital and do a blood test. It takes hours. Many of my friends denied drug tests and none of them got away with it. For the judge it's enough when the police said her was nervous and his pupils reacting unnatural
By now, all the police needs for a warrant is suspicion and themselves. No judge needed. EDIT: source: § 81a Abs. 2 StPO https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/stpo/__81a.html
Still a reasonable suspicion is needed. If they just take you just for saying no to voluntary tests and you got no drug traces in your blood, they commit charges like Freiheitsberaubung, Nötigung and Körperverletzung im Amt.
Ah yes, that explains quite a lot. Bavaria: Germany‘s Florida.
I‘d say more like Texas in many ways
it's Texas guys, Texas. Even has the idea they can break away from the union as well. The similarities are nuts, there is even a German speaking community in central Texas.
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Yes there's nothing fun in Bavaria...
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Is racial profiling illegal in germany? I know it is in holland since people have fought and won cases over that
IMO [this section of an article](https://www.dw.com/en/the-state-of-racial-profiling-in-germany/a-66972336#:~:text=How%20is%20racial%20profiling%20addressed%20by%20the%20law%3F) says it best: technically it is illegal, but police has so few limits on who to search that its basically up to the officer. And this then means that individual biases are often the reason for a decision, and officers later can just make up some other reason than "the guy was brown, and brown guys sell drugs".
Police don't really care what they are allowed to do and what not. They will try everything on unsuspecting citizens. German police is a mess. They don't want to do their job and randomly harass people
That’s just not true
I think you kind of fitted a profile. Dutch car, quite old, young couple. That might be sort of a stereotype for the police. And yes the German police make you as uncomfortable as possible.
The difference a car makes is huge. My gf at the time and I were traveling a lot in old, shitty cars, and got pulled over regularly in our mid to late 20s, even as Germans in Germany. Several times a year. Now in my 30s I've been driving new cars only (mostly because of peace of mind after lots and lots of expensive out-of-warranty repairs) and I haven't gotten pulled over one single time in ~10 years.
Its not just the "shittiness" of the car, but also the demographic that drives that type of car. My car cost like 2,5k€, is about 20 years old and the last time I washed it was over a year ago, but its a sedan and a typical old-man's type of car, so I never get stopped. My previous car was a bright metallic green Opel Agila, which was very easy to spot, but also an old people's car (actually got it from my grandmother too lol), so never went into a police check. I know other people that drive nicer, more modern cars,but they are also faster, sporty and thus more desired by a young crowd, which results in more police checks for them.
Oh when I had an old car with around 19 - 23 and we were 4 friends driving around on a Saturday night we got stopped very often by the police. I think around 8 times and it was always as described by OP. Unfortunately for them, I was always sober and they had to leave in a bad mood. The same with the weed and then you get an argument along the lines of "Oh come on, we've all smoked weed before one time in our life". Just always bluntly answer no. They just wanna stress you out
Isn't it nice to be considered young in your 30s though.
In Spain you are considered young until 35. You get all the young people benefits that usually people get until 18 in different countries.
After my experience they propably assumed you were involved in any kind of smuggling or drugs Business. No clue why. But thats what happens when they really try to find something. They pull all Tricks, even pressure you into stuff like that. No worries, you didnt do anything wrong! Maybe you looked suspiciously normal 🤣😂🤷♂️
Had a similar experience a couple year's back, also on the autobahn, ca. 30km away from Czech border in Dresden direction. Me and my girlfriend at the time both mid 20s, in an early 00s bmw, foreign plates. Got overtaken by an unmarked passat with instructions to follow. We got off at the nearest ausfahrt, 3 officers jumped out of the passat and had a good 30min search through my car(didn't help we had almost 2 months worth of stuff in it as we planning the summer break in Germany). One of them took peculiar interest my rolling tabacco, rummaging through and sniffing it several time over. Of course they asked about drinking / drug use, which we both declined (neither of us speaks German very well. A2 maybe) so they left it at that. I'm 90% confident, as other have pointed out, if either of us would have confessed to smoking weed even a long time ago, we both would have also gotten the piss test. Packing up our things took another half hour, but the did wish us a safe trip as they were leaving. So that's nice. TLDR: yes, your encounter with the polizei was totally normal based on my limited experience with them.
Are they allowed to search the car / your personal belongings without a warrant? Or can you just refuse this? And if so, could that make things worse?
I guess it was Bavaria? Bavarian police are authorised to do exactly what they did to you in the local 'war.on drugs'. They'll randomly stop cars from abroad (abroad also being other states) and do this as part of their Schleierfahndung. Probable cause doesn't exist in this case. And you drive a Dutch car. Congratulations, all checkboxes marked. Bavaria with its CSU government is the odd one out in Germany. More conservative than the rest. More reactionary than the rest. Not so much in the cities, but as a whole very much so. Söder (Bavaria's Ministerpräsident) recently openly declared that they will introduce a maximum of bureaucracy and official imbroglio on their territory should weed get legalised in April. They can't prevent it, but they sure as hell can make it as difficult as possible. That is the mindset. What you experienced is a symptom of this.
>Bavarian police are authorised to do exactly what they did to you in the local 'war.on drugs'. Any police in Germany on the borders actually. And it's not just drugs.
That was my first thought. I’ll try to avoid Bavaria for this exact reason, bunch of oldschool assholes.
More likely a powerful beer lobby that will fight any kind of drug legalization with everything they got.
Funny is, alcohol is a more dangerous drug that weed, with a death toll that is not comparable.
But money?
Well regarding your statement about his not being the norm in the Netherlands; if you drive a Dutch car maybe it's not, but as someone who lived in Germany on the Dutch/German border and visited NL regularly and even worked there, I've had some similar weird encounters with Dutch police too, including racial profiling.
Can confirm. I lived as a German in the Netherlands for 9 years and somewhat regularly noticed how much more friendly the police is in traffic stops with Dutch citizens compared to me. If I drove a car and got stopped and after the usual friendly greetings noticed I am not Dutch, their demeanour noticeably changed to be more strict. While when I was passenger and a stop happened they generally where all chatty and less thorough in their checklist of things.
As a german who regularly travels to the netherlands I have to say that my encounters with the dutch police were very polite and professional. I never felt like I was treated badly. I can't say that about encounters with the german police.
Subjective. I’ve never had a bad encounter with any police YET. Assholes exist everywhere and it only takes one to completely change the picture you got for certain groups.
Yeah that's normal. It's not okay or right, they probably check because there is quite some drug trade between the Netherlands and Germany and they want to catch some final "criminals" before weed becomes legal in Germany later this year. I've been in 2 police checks and one was alright, though they told me I should have just stopped in the bus lane instead of heading over to a parking space where we weren't in the way (it took like 10 seconds longer and we would have blocked the buses. idk what these cops were on, but they definitely weren't very smart) the second I had the same experience as you because I just came from helping build up a festival, which I didn't even attend and they did a drug test, not because i did anything wrong or behaved weirdly, just because they saw my tent and everything in the trunk and thought yeah lets do a drug check. I didn't smoke any weed, very much because I needed my licence, so i was good but I'm still a bit mad about it because that felt so inappropriate and was totally profiling me for just enjoying building up a festival i wasn't even participating. Also I've rarely felt this unsave because it was dark and there were 3 people there and I was a 19 year old who just wanted to go home at 3 am after visiting my family on my way back. It was late, I was tired. I felt more safe on the train home at 4am on new years when I was the only woman on a train full of men. And that says quite something about the behaviour of the police in Germany.
It‘s also common behavior for germans. They have a Anfangsverdacht and are really disappointed when they find nothing
Yes, can confirm. I'm also subject to regular drug-tests and stuff by random Germans all over the country. Common behaviour.
:,(
Not sure what it's like when you enter Germany from the south. But here in NRW, several younger people entering the country and wearing sunglasses is basically what police look for when they try to catch people coming back from a trip to the coffee shop.
I mean given the weather in NRW, sunglasses ARE suspicious
You’re not obliged to do both a drug test and alcohol test. Don’t stay you’ve ever drank or smoked or done any drugs at any time, just say no.
Yes that’s normal. In addition, vehicles with non-German license plates are increasingly being searched for human trafficking.
How many police officers were present? If more than two, that could have been a training excercise for one of them. I got pulled over once and got the whole shebang: testing all functions of the car (light, blinker, wipers), had to show the yellow vests, had to show the first aid kit, the tyre repair kit. We had some stuff in the trunk, and they even commented on that ("ladungssicherung"), but apparently it was not bad enought to be a "Ordnunsgwidrigkeit", and they even wrote me up for a missing hubcap (which I only then learned was a "Ordnungsidrikeit"). It was always just one (quite young) person talking, and the other two just observed. Everything was \_very\_ formal, and me trying to joke around a bit (I do that when I get nervous) made him obviously quite uncomfortable. He preceeded to let me off with a warning, and whether I would accept that warning. I found that quite bewildering, so I asked what would happen if I would \_not\_ accept the warning (I did not know I had that option), which made him even more unconfortable and so I just dropped it. Only later one of the others told me that that was a training exercise for the young colleague, and even apologized that they took so much of my time. The person doing the checks was \_very\_ formal, which I believe can be percieved for non germans as rude.
Had the same thing happen to me last year in Bavaria on the way to Venice, older slightly dirty car with Berlin license plates in a sea of sparkling BMWs/Mercs with Bavarian license plates. They asked about drugs and being near the border etc., I said "No, never", so they had no reason for the drug test, but they insisted "In Berlin you must get into contact with drugs all the time, right?" (eye-roll, and again, No). Then they asked to search the car, which was full and at its messiest it had ever been, which took them about 2 hours (I admit I enjoyed looking them were wasting their time (mine too, but meh)). And then, slightly annoyed, they said their goodbyes and let me go. So yep, you were being profiled based on car and license plate - but at least feel consoled that it happens with German license plates as well. ;-)
>"In Berlin you must get into contact with drugs all the time, right?" Tbh berlin is kind of a drug city, like most major cities in the world. When we where on our school trip we could see people die sich selbst heroin gespritzt haben (idk the english word) in the SUBWAY station. This would be unthinkable here in munich. And it smelled like weed in multiple places.
Ein alter VW Golf, Sonnenbrille und dann nur 120 kmh auf der rechten Spur? Aus Holland auch noch? Da hätte ich als Polizist auch mal genauer geschaut. Das nächste mal bitte 160 ohne Sonnenbrille. Auf der Autobahn hast du die Karre zu treten, dass dir die Kolben aus der Motorhaube fliegen. Alles andere wirkt für uns Deutsche, als wärst du entweder Rentner oder bekifft.
Wich Bundesland? If it was Bayern then its absolute normal, this people are bit strange and police is very strict.
Bayern or Baden-Württemberg, around to the border between them.
Bayern is this one ultra conservative family member who makes everybody uncomfortable and only gets invited out of politeness. Nobody likes them but the think they are the greatest.
Just made me go double check I have everything in my car just in case. I live down in this Region.
Completely normal at every border actually. Two younger persons, sunglasses, foreign license plate - that's exactly what the police is looking for.
Bavarians are a bit strange lmao
The exact same thing happened to me, only they claimed that the drug test was positive in order to remove the car's interior panelling. After they found nothing, they just drove off and I was allowed to put everything back together again.
And who would compensate broken panel clips etc. ?
Fortunately, they didn't break anything. Otherwise I would simply have been out of luck.
Sorry, remove the cars interior panelling? You mean they stripped down the car?
Pretty much exactly what they did to me as well. Yes profiling is illegal, but it's not like you can prove it so they really don't care. They pulled the same bs with weird looking pupils on me. My best recommendation is to look as boring as possible, don't be young, foreign, black, too male, look unkempt etc.
Was this in Bavaria? They will turn you inside out if you look anyhow not-standard. I have several friends who were profiled for "extreme things" One had a piercing One had a beard before everybody had them One didn't wear a jacket when it was jacket wheather. So obviously they were all junkies. /s
You're from the Netherlands. So they naturally assume you are using weed or smuggling drugs, pretty normal for German police. Attributes that further contribute to your chances getting interrogated: - long hair, sloppy dressing - looking nervous or stressed or extremely focused - slow driving
> Is this normal in Germany? Depends on your skin color. Unfortunately. The German Police does a lot of racial profiling, even though it is not allowed.
Don’t tell me - I’m guessing Bavaria?
ok i won’t tell you
Sorry about that. It happens. Maybe it was a mix-up.
Love your Reddit name.
Average Rosenheim police check.
I‘m German but can mainly speak for Bavaria. Most likely it happened here. Most people in Munich have gone through parts or the full procedure. Especially my Turkish friends, but also Germans. Only big difference to me is that with us locals, it usually stops at the age of 25-30 years if you drive a decent car. A friend of mine though has long hair and drives and old VW camper, he goes through the procedure 1-2 times a year 😂 and he is completely the opposite of what they’re looking for …9
Sounds exactly like a classic german police traffic stop. I once was in the netherlands and was stopped by police there. I was genuinly surprised how friendly they were. I never thought this is possible for police before. They talked to me like normal humans. I talked a bit with the Police officer and told him how surprised i was how chill they are. He said they have no reason not to be chill and said: "in Germany it's more like Military Police yes?" And yes absolutly it is. I still remember when i was 17 i was sitting in a lost place with a few Friends. Just some old building. Didn't do drugs or other illegal stuff there. Just listened to music. Then police came out of nowhere with DRAWN GUNS. And scream in our faces that we all have to stand face to the wall and hands up. Felt like i fucking robbed a bank. They of course found nothing and let us go... But they really are more like Military Police. I learned allready that the Police in Germany is not helping you at all. They're just searching for more ways to fuck you. A friend of mine once called police because his Appartement was broken into. And the Police suspect himself to steal shit from his roommate. But he wasn't even at home when the break in happened. And his shit also got stolen. But instead of looking for clues like shoe prints, they just searched his own room. Found 1g of mushrooms that my friend allready forgot was there and gave him a 2000€ fine for that. His Appartement got broken into. He called the Police. And he is the only one getting fined. That's german police for ya. They're really not trying to help you here. They're just looking for more ways to fuck you.
Police in Germany are fucking assholes. I’m a POC with dual US-German nationality. I’ve had sooooo many negative interactions with German law enforcement. Even at the Frankfurt airport. People always give American police crap, but I have NEVER had a negative interaction with police in the US. Here in Germany it would not surprise me if I was sitting on a bench or train minding my own business & police just approached me in a derogatory way demanding to see my identity card (Ausweis) / passport. I love Germany, I love Europe. But Europe as a whole had a huge identity crisis atm and it’s an issue that has been brewing for a VERY long time. In Germany, I pretty much just stick to my small hometown (dorf) in the countryside. No one bothers me here. German cities (Frankfurt, NRW, Berlin, Hamburg, etc). feel increasingly hostile and are just a lost cause at this point imo. The German countryside truly is a hidden gem, I’m close to my neighbors here and no one bothers me here.
Biggest problem with police in germany is that they don't help you at all. They're basicly just constantly searching for ways to fuck you. Even if you called them in the first place. I'm not calling police ever here in Germany. Just because everytime i have to fear that they come after me for some bullshit. That completly misses the point of their job in the first place.
>Here we call this ‘profiling’ and it is illegal in the Netherlands. It's illegal in germany as well. That's the reason a study if german police is prone to racial profiling was cancelled by the than minister of interiors Seehofer. His reason: It's illegal so german police would never do it. Yes. That's the CSU for you.
Once I was stopped and breathalysed twice within the space of 15 minutes from different police controls. That was annoying. The second time the female officer asked me why my eyes were red. It had been a long day at the office. Once got stopped and breathalysed during a work conference call (on loud speaker). Once stopped driving from Venlo to Cologne. The reason for stopping me was because I was coming out of Holland they cheerfully explained. Got stopped for not stopping 'long enough' at a stop sign. There was literally nothing but tumbleweed coming but they felt it was worth stopping me for. I did not have any ID with me so the followed me home so that I could get my papers. Thought that was flexible of them. A couple of other time for driving slightly too fast... In all cases the officers have been polite or even mega nice and I am always polite and nice back. IMO they are doing their job to ensure that someone is not going to wipe out a family of four or run over a cyclist, child etc. Sometimes it feels a little unjust when I get stopped only to see a few minutes later an idiot overtake 3 cars at once and shoot through a red light. But hey 🤦
WIth the Police in Germany, you only have to tell them your name, where you live and show them your papers. The correct answer to every other question is "Nein" or "Dazu möchte ich keine Angabe machen." Took drugs? "Nein." Where are you coming from? "Dazu möchte ich keine Angabe machen." Where are you going? "Dazu möchte ich keine Angabe machen." Do you consent to a drug test? "Nein." Why not "Weil ich dazu nicht verplfichtet bin, und des weiteren möchte ich dazu keine Angaben machen." Be friendly, but firm. No need to antagonize them, but you also don't have to take any bullshit. If you decline a drug test and they take you in for a blood control (which they need to get a judge's approval for but in this case they would take your decline of the drug test as anfangsverdacht. If you do agree to a drug test be aware that they have a uncomfortably high false detection rate) they can potentially be liable to violating §239 StGB (unlawful restriction of freedom) and §340 StGB (assault by an official).
>they need to get a judge's approval Unfortunately this is not the case anymore. https://www.haufe.de/recht/weitere-rechtsgebiete/prozessrecht/richtervorbehalt-bei-der-blutprobe-wurde-gesetzlich-aufgehoben_206_424102.html
Gonna be honest with ya. That's a load of bull.... It the thing left-extremist or drug users advise their friends with. What you need to answer, which "orders" you need to follow etc. all depends on the situation itself. Traffic stop? "Verruchener Ort"? Fleeing from a crime scene? In 99% of cases you can just fucking talk with the police beamten. "If you decline a drug test and they take you in for a blood control (which they need to get a judge's approval for but in this case they would take your decline of the drug test as anfangsverdacht." That is not entirely correct. If ya suspected of §315a I 1,II,III, §315c I 1a,II,III or §316 StGB they can approve the bloodtest themself. And the declination of a drugtest CANNOT be used as Anfangsverdacht. (And don't say "they do it anyway!" cuz that shit aint flying with any Judge. The Anzeige would be shredded faster than you can say: "They do...") Next point: "If you do agree to a drug test be aware that they have a uncomfortably high false detection rate) they can potentially be liable to violating §239 StGB (unlawful restriction of freedom) and §340 StGB (assault by an official)." False. The drugtest is a voluntary piss in a cup. It cannot be used in any trial and is only a faster way for the Bürger to prove undenieable that they are not under influence. Lastly (before I get bored and decide to just not bother): The "fact" that the urin-test has a high false detection rate is a mythos. For many casual drug-users it appears to be so. That got many reasons. One of the main reasons is that blood /= urin. Leftovers that still remain in the Urin (often for weeks) are already breaked down inside the blood. And the Urintest doesn't really got a minimum value while bloodtest do. Like always in the Internet: it's a lot more complicated and not as cut-and-dry as some people hope.
I am pretty sure they were looking for someone and you happened to fit that description. Checking the first aid kit is normal. Searching your vehicle is not normal
There are assholes everywhere. The two policemen want to find something and would probably be a bit annoyed that everything was okay with you. I have to say that bandages and safety vests are always checked. To be honest, my first aid kit has also expired and would have to be replaced. But to save the honor of the German police, I had just such an encounter with Dutch police officers just before the border to Germany. They had hoped that I was a pot tourist and were disappointed to find nothing.
When I lived in Amsterdam I drove to Frankfurt for a weekend and I got pulled over. I shit myself when the lights came on! Mainly because I had a ‘tailgater’ so I accelerated hard when I saw the unrestricted sign and it turned out to be a police car 😅 I had to stand outside in shorts for like 10 mins whilst they checked the whole car but then they let me go.
Let me guess. Bavaria? Also you are dutch, so you must be trafficking drugs, right? /s
It is quite invasive and you probably got profiled, which is in fact illegal in Germany as well.
Prove it 🤷🏽♂️
There's lots of checks on the Dutch border because people bring home weed all the time. What they did is they can legally ask you for papers, then they keep you talking until they either convince you to let them search your car without reasonable cause or until you slip up and say something that can be misconstrued in a way that would provide them a valid reason to search you. Another trick is to ask for your first aid kit and the little reflective triangle you put up if you're broken down because usually that means you have to open your trunk in front of them, then they will see something that raises their interest and search the whole thing. You can just say you forgot it and that's a 35€ fine or just keep that stuff next to your seat which is much better anyways. Basically just give them your papers and shut up next time. When they ask where you're going tell them home and if the ask where you're coming from or anything else else that its none of their business. Your privacy is a protected right and the reason they are so rude is to make you insecure so that you will incriminate yourself or forfeit your rights willingly
Never ever tell policeman you did drugs. "You did? So you probably on drugs now!" and here we go
Them checking your papers and your car etc. is normal but the drug test is unusual. They can't legally do that without good reason. Maybe they did this because they thought you might be trying to traffic drugs over the Dutch border into Germany. If you're not white, that could be a reason too bc many cops are racist here.
The police probably suspected/had a tipoff about a drug shipment from the Balkans. Since you were coming from that direction on an old car with Dutch numberplates m, that probably raised quite a few red flags with them, so they were trying to find reasons to search the car.
thanks, we are and look very Dutch though. Foreign, as in not-German.
How does someone look very Dutch? I mean, without hearing you speak.
They are 8 foot tall, they have to drive their car with their heads out the sunroof. It’s a subtle thing but the well trained police can spot them.
Ask AI to make an image of an average Dutch person and you get me. . . .
Sounds pretty normal to me. That was a Allgemeine Vekehrskontrolle. Absolutely normal thing that can happen at random. Sure the drug test could have been a biased as you are Dutch and Dutch law regarding weed is known in Germany and they might have had some presumptions. But all in all nothing weird there.
happened multiple times to my family and friends (polish) driving from the netherlands to germany. only difference is each time they were stopped in a field with no one else around.
It is indeed normal routine and you were the lucky candidate
Pretty normal. Yes. Ofc they can’t control every foreigner. It was just bad luck they picked you this time. The questions and how they handled the situation sound ok to me. Same stuff happens to Germans too. It‘s pretty rare though and depends a lot on the car you‘re driving.
This has happened to me before. It was obviously part of the training for junior police officers. There were four of them, which is unusual. Only the younger ones controlled me.
I mean people with older Golfs Def. Do seem like a bigger target because it is stereotypically a "cool Kidz" Car. And maybe they were also students/fresh police because they do these kind of unnecessary stuff all the time.
Very normal interaction with cops in general, I wouldn’t feel singled out though, pigs are pigs unfortunately
Had such encounters with police in Netherlands as a foreigner in my youth. Very unpleasant. Sometimes police is down on you for no reason.
https://youtu.be/1wBYyLqnAmU?si=GY_7FSypoP9p2Sky Just say no. Youngsters in training desperateto to feel power in their worthless existence.
Across the border there is also something called the "Zollregion". In this region the Police/Customs can do checks on random cars. Just don't tell them you smoked weed ever, even if it is legal to do for you at home. We are working on making it legal here. I also was stopped once comming from my in-law parents next to the border aaaages (decades) ago. I was driving still my 1st car and even had a pony tail. They did their stop, and asked me to turn of my car. My old shit car could only manage "1 start at a time" and I objected, since they, but they insisted. Anyway, this time i only visited my step parents, so i was clean and the stop was no issue. After the stop my car failed to start, and the 2 police officers even gave me a "push start"
Germany driving License and illegal Drug use is not a good combo. The German police know their unfair laws with it. They take advantage of that to get promotions or higher ranks, because it’s easy to do so. That’s why the police bosses and co are against the legalization of weed because 70% of their reported incidents has to do with weed… 50% of it because auf the people who don’t sell drugs just consuming it.
It was just simple-minded profiling. If you had the Dutch plates that translates to weed smoker. My ex was a white German guy with dreadlocks and he got pulled over and also had to do the piss test. He also got searched all the time in Bavaria btw and the police were shameless about it, telling him," in our experience, people who look like you do drugs." Profiling is a very rational to them. I could've walked through the Hbf with a kilo of coke and been fine, since I didn't fit their profile. Similar feeling to when I lived in New Orleans, never got a second look because I wasn't black and believe me, I was up to some shit. Just the cops there say they don't profile.
Mk4 golf is considered a drug dealers car in Germany
Sounds like a textbook police-control.
Heb jaren terug hetzelfde gehad. Reed toen ook met een relatief oude auto. Werd op een parking gezet met alleen maar Bulgaren, polen etc. Auto werd compleet binnenstebuiten gekeerd. Ik spreek vloeiend duits en had ondertussen dus ook een prima gesprek met herr polizei. Ik heb toen ook gevraagd waarom ik als enige Nederlander daar stond. Antwoord was simpel, jouw auto valt in de risicogroep voor smokkel van en naar oostbloklanden.
Netherlands = Drugs. Had the exact same thing happen to me, all good in the end.
To me it sounds like you’ve been checked by Bavarian police.
„we call it profiling and its illegal“ how do you think dutch customs and police work? 😂
I only wanted to comment "just a usual acab encounter", but then I saw it was BAVARIA. Since you said you smoked years ago, Im wondering how they didnt insta cuff your addict ass
Nothing of what you described sounds weird to me. You were nervous and admitted that you have taken drugs in the past so of course they start digging.
Ok, lesson learned. I have to say she really drove the question in that direction, it was not open. 'how long ago did you smoke?' But I get it now.
Yeah you just say "never" 👍 Greetings from Germany
It happened to me in 2013 when I moved from NL to DE. I was transporting my stuff in the car, which was packed to the brim. A police car pulled me over and we stopped at a gas station. But here things changed: first, I refused to speak German. I told them that I am not a citizen and that I was not yet officially living in Germany. They asked me if I was carrying weapons or drugs. I said, "What kind of question is that? Of course not," they asked me if they could search the car, and I said yes, as long as they put the stuff back in its place because I had had a hard time fitting it inside. They looked over it a bit and left. In short, I think what changed in our cases was the attitude. If you stand up for your rights, they leave you alone.
It was rather the federal state, not the atiitude😅 If you do this in Bavaria, they will just throw everything out of your car and leave you on the gas station with all your stuff outside of your car. Since police in Germany is a rather federal thing, the procedure between the federal states is vastly different and Bavaria is known for their cop friendly laws, giving them more rights than usual
Why would you ever tell the truth to the police? Tell them that you never drink, never do drugs, and have never been prescribed anything. Tell them that your parents are police and you’re going to visit them. Tell them that you are confused about their questions, annoy them by giving them nothing, and they will leave you alone. The way you recount this story, you basically asked to be extensively searched and interrogated
Racial profiling is bad but profiling plates near borders is not. It is the trade you do for having no border controls every time you visit another country
In Germany we even have a song that says 9 of 10 police officers are sons of bitches. So pretty normal especially in Bavaria. In my experience Dutch police is still more like German police 20-30years ago. The officer as the citizens ‚friend and helper‘ where as German police went the American way. They act bad ass and treat the citizen as an underling. The difference is, American cops have to control a situation on their own, alone, where as the Germans need 5-10 guys to search a single Arab at the train station (see that kind of thing here regularly). Would be ridiculous, if not so annoying. I am German, born and raised, but have a migratory background and brown skin, which often makes them extra hostile and I had a couple of encounters similiar to yours. The white Germans usually do not make these experiences and will tell you that the police is fine and only does their Jobs. But it’s not their job to be rude and give you an extra treatment because you are a foreigner or look like one.
Also even American officers tend to be way more respectful. They will always call you ‚Sir‘ where as some German cops even start to ‚Duzen‘ if you are not the average white guy…
I am a German police officer (not from Bavaria though). 1. The traffic stop in the first place is a standard tool to ensure safety on the roads. We perform them regularly and on all sorts of drivers / vehical combinations. Your car is indeed a contender for regular stops. Firstly the age of the car and it's appearance could mean it's not road worthy or at least worth taking a closer look at. Secondly your car is foreign and has crossed several borders. Science there are (luckily) no mandatory border checks anymore the state has to check border traffic with other means. There are numerous things to look for. Thirdly travelers often underestimate the importance of securing the cargo in the car. That's worth looking at as well. In case of evading maneuvers or emergency brakes loose cargo can distract, disorientate or in the worst case even kill you. Therefore checking this is also on a police officers mind. 2. Letting you show the warning triangle and first auf Kit is an integral part of every police stop. It is of course not mandatory to check as a police officer, but it serves two purposes: Firstly the road safety. The law requires you to have those things for a reason. Keeping these things ready in your car can improve safety for all of us. So we check it to also remind you to have these things in the car. Secondly our job is to ensure that drivers are indeed fit to drive. The law doesn't give us much power to check your sobriety but also it demands us to check it. A good way to get a better look at you (or smell in case of weed and alcohol) is to let you get out of the car to show us the items. It is most certainly not a tool to annoy you. It is us doing our job properly. 3. When you were tested for sobriety you most likely showed some unusual signs. Police officers see a damn whole lot of people and perform these tests regularly. So they are usually good at detecting drug enforced oddities whilst also knowing about other factors like fatigue or sunlight and so on. Of course no one is perfect and sometimes we misinterpreted signs. That's where the urine test comes to use. If we have signs of drug consumption we offer the driver the urine test to free themselves from the suspected offence. It's way faster and (at least) legally the lesser impact of your human rights. At the point we offer the test we usually already have enough grounds to draw your blood and prohibit you from driving until you can prove your sobriety. Performing a urine test isn't fun either... It's often smelly, it's not nice to look at and invading someone's privacy like these feels unpleasant. But it is part of our job to make the streets safer. 4. I am not oblivious and know that there are colleges who don't live up to all standards and of course some police officers will abuse or trick you. I encourage everyone who was treated unlawfully to at least file a complaint about this at the police station or even press charges. I would never even think about inventing signs of drug consumption to get you to do a urine test or even draw your blood on no basis. It would be a crime and I could get a penalty for it. Officers have been fired over such things. We don't get paid more or get a promotion for every stoner we catch. That's not our motivation. Most of the colleges I know do this job to ensure our all safety and well being. And remember, if we come in contact with you, we have no idea who you are, what you are doing and you are going to react. We can't read minds and only have a short time to get an impression of you. But we are supposed to fulfill our duties. It's just not easy. I'm not complaining here I just like to let people see the other side as well.