At the police union congress, Seehofer said he could well imagine “giving the police the opportunity” to carry out exceptional border inspections for a limited time, for example, “when many lawn mowers disappear in Saxony once again.” By this, he implicitly mentioned the complaints of some inhabitants of the municipalities at the border with the Czech Republic and Poland, according to whom criminality has increased at the borders after the entry of these countries into the Schengen area.
The intention to amend the police law, which would allow stricter inspections and deployment of face recognition programs, was endorsed by the Saxon government at the end of October. The plans of Christian and Social Democrats were criticized both in Germany and in the Czech Republic.
Since autumn 2015, Germany has been inspecting its border with Austria. The reasons leading to the implementation of this measure was not a cross-border crime, but tens of thousands of migrants flowing to Bavaria through the so-called Balkan Route from Turkey via Greece, Hungary or the Western Balkans and Austria.
