Fifteen police officers in Hamburg, some of them retired, are being investigated over racist chat messages. They could face disciplinary measures.

Police in the northern German city-state of Hamburg on Tuesday searched nine apartments as part of an investigation into alleged racist online group chats involving 15 former and current officers.

The investigations were initiated after two officers reportedly sent and received messages that were “racist” and “glorifying violence and Nazism.”

What do we know about the investigation?

Police seized a large number of electronic devices during the searches as evidence.

They said the 13 other officers who are under investigation “participated in the chats to varying degrees.” 

State prosecutors have reportedly classified the tens of thousands of chat messages as not constituting criminal violations, meaning that the investigation is an internal police one and could lead at the most to disciplinary measures against the officers concerned.

Hamburg’s police chief, Falk Schnabel, said there was no place for such behavior in the police force.

“We will thoroughly investigate the allegations and draw all the necessary disciplinary consequences,” he said.