ZuRecht - The Police in an Open Society
Results of research project published in edited volume
The interdisciplinary research project ZuRecht analyzed the challenges the police face in an increasingly diverse society. The findings have now been published.
We live in a mixed society. More than one quarter of the German population has a migrant background – and the trend continues to rise. Growing diversity and the discrimination that often goes hand in hand with such shifts in population affects all areas of society, including the police.
The interdisciplinary project “ZuRecht – Die Polizei in der offenen Gesellschaft” (ZuRecht – The police in an open society) examined how diversity is addressed by the police. Researchers from various disciplines (sociology, law, and criminology), security experts, and law enforcement specialists investigated how the police deal with diversity in a number of different areas: attracting and selecting new recruits, education and training, patrol duty and public relations work.
A recently published edited volume (open access!) compiles the research team’s work:
📔 Ellebrecht, Sabrina; Poscher, Ralf; Jarolimek, Stefan; Kaufmann, Stefan (eds.) (2025): Die Polizei in der offenen Gesellschaft Zum polizeilichen Umgang mit Vielfalt und Diversität. transcript Verlag.
The ZuRecht project was a collaboration between the Centre for Security and Society at the University of Freiburg, the German Police University of Münster, and the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law in Freiburg. Research funding was granted by Stiftung Mercator GmbH.