Verdeckte technische Überwachungsmaßnahmen im Polizei- und Strafverfahrensrecht

The surveillance of civilians and their communication has a legal basis not only in Germany's Code of Criminal Procedure, but also in German federal and state police laws. A comparative analysis of the scope, targets and the temporal applicability of these norms reveals a highly problematic duplication which has severe implications on the rule of law and also diminishes the practicability of the current legal situation. From a European perspective, the traditionally supposed separation between prevention by police and repression by criminal justice needs to be overcome. One solution presented in this volume would be the creation of a unified legal order on operative criminal investigations, containing elements of both police and criminal procedure law.