Why should I submit a report and which reports help the Berlin Police?

In the coexistence of people, compliance with legal norms and social rules is important.

With your tip, police investigations can be initiated.

In most cases, the responsibility for processing crimes within Germany lies with the federal state in which the crime is located. In these cases, please use the police services of the respective federal state. If we receive information from an external jurisdiction, it will be forwarded to the police authorities of the respective federal state or competent federal authority after examination.

How does a report work, how do I set up a postbox and why can it be helpful?

If you would like to send a registered or anonymous report, click the "Submit a report" button at the top of our introductory page.

The reporting process consists of 4 steps:

1. First you will be asked to read a text on how to protect your anonymity, to confirm that you have read the data protection information and instruction, and to answer a security question.
2. On the following page, you will be asked about the category of your report.
3. On the reporting page, you formulate your report in your own words and answer questions about the case via a simple answer selection. For the free text, you have 5,000 characters available, which corresponds to a full page. You can also send a file of up to 20 MB to support your report. Keep in mind that documents may contain information about the author. After sending your report, you will receive a reference number as proof that you have sent this report.
4. Afterwards, please set up your own secured postbox. You will receive feedback from us via this postbox and can answer additional questions if necessary.

If you already have a secured postbox, you can access this postbox directly by clicking on the "Login" button. Again, you must first confirm the security prompt.

As long as you do not enter any data yourself that allows conclusions to be drawn about your person, the whistleblower system technically protects your anonymity.

We assure you that we are only interested in the case you are reporting. Misdeeds are to be uncovered and damage averted.

How do I get feedback and still remain anonymous?

The overriding principle of the system used here is the protection of the whistleblower. Your anonymity is independently certified and assured.

When setting up your secured postbox, you choose the pseudonym/username and password yourself. These credentials are not visible to anyone but yourself. If you lose your access data, please submit a new report and set up a new postbox. If possible, please include the reference number of your old report. Since this is a new postbox, the contents of your old message are not available here.

Your report is kept anonymous by encryption and other security routines. If you submit your report anonymously, you do not have to provide any personal information. Do not enter any data that allows conclusions to be drawn about your person. Please do not use a technical device provided by your employer for your report, such as a PC or smartphone.

We can use the secured postbox to tell you what happens to your tip, or ask questions if details are still unclear – you will remain anonymous during the dialogue. We are interested in reports to avert damage, not in you as the whistleblower.

Note for police employees

Before submitting your report, please note the information on the intranet of the Berlin Police on the Anonymous Whistleblower System with regard to your job-related duties.

Anonymous Whistleblower System (AHS) and Whistleblower Protection Act

The Anonymous Whistleblower System of the Berlin Police is not a reporting office within the meaning of the Whistleblower Protection Act (HinSchG).  If you wish to report information that you have obtained in connection with or prior to your professional activity, the following reporting offices are available to you:

The internal reporting office of the State of Berlin in accordance with the Whistleblower Protection Act is the trusted lawyer for the Berlin administration.
https://www.berlin.de/sen/justv/ueber-uns/beauftragte/vertrauensanwalt/

The external reporting office within the meaning of the Whistleblower Protection Act is the Federal Reporting Office.
https://www.bundesjustizamt.de/DE/MeldestelledesBundes/MeldestelledesBundes_node.html

In addition, the Ombudsman of the State of Berlin is the independent complaints and arbitration office (ombuds office) for resolving low-threshold conflicts about Berlin authorities and other state institutions.
 https://www.berlin.de/buerger-polizeibeauftragter/