In March 1964, a leading Hamburg police doctor summarized factors impeding a “mental renewal” of the police in West Germany. First, during the Third Reich the police saw itself “abused” and, following its traditional duty of obedience, embroiled in an innocent tragedy (even if the misdemeanors of some civil servants were undisputed). Among policemen it had been forgotten that the “moral balance sheet of the Bundeswehr, the judges, the educators, or the doctors is equally in deficit.” Second, police were “extremely sensitive to criticism. Not all police leaders understand that police affairs are not a preserve insulated from public scrutiny.”¹...