German Police Officer Dismissed For ‘Far Right Tattoos’

BERLIN (AP) – A German federal court has dismissed a Berlin police officer accused of having far-right tattoos and repeatedly giving the Hitler salute, 10 years after he was first suspended.

The Federal Administrative Court ruled Friday that people who reject the German constitutional order are unfit for public service, even if their behavior isn’t a criminal offense.

Berlin prosecutors in 2007 opened several investigations of the officer. They were closed because, among other things, investigators couldn’t prove he had given the stiff-armed Nazi salute inside Germany or shown his tattoos in public.

Lower courts largely rejected disciplinary measures against the officer.

The federal court said his “fundamental and lasting departure from the principles of constitutional order” was proven by his tattoos, posing in front of a Nazi flag and collection of Nazi memorabilia.