Germany’s Federal Police may soon be allowed to read encrypted messages after the Modernization of the Federal Police Act was passed by the Bundestag on Friday.

• The act is still subject to approval by the Federal Council.

An increasingly powerful German police force may seem necessary to combat crime; however, it could also be used to enforce a leader’s agenda, as has been the case in the past.

Seeing encrypted messages is just one of the new powers the federal police could soon wield. The law would also enable it to:

• Use AI-powered facial recognition to track an individual across the country instantly, using everything from airport to train station cameras
• Use AI to analyze footage and make a determination whether a crime is occurring or about to occur
• Use drones to take images and record audio
• Ask courts to detain an immigrant before deportation
• Locate phones with increased ease

Germany’s legislature is also considering a bill that would authorize Germany’s spy agency, the bnd, to sabotage computer infrastructure.

Can Germany’s police and intelligence agencies be trusted with such powers?

• Though some good may come from this, such as preventing crime, both German history and Bible prophecy suggest these powers will be used for evil purposes.
• Throughout the 1930s and ’40s, German agencies that were meant to protect citizens, like the bnd and Federal Police, were used instead to silence dissent, force compliance with the regime, and commit blackmail.

Increased policing powers provide a tool for an authoritarian strongman, once he hijacks the government, to push through a tyrannical agenda.