Citizens & police officers benefit from direct data entry via Online Crime Reporting Portal and digitization of processes with HybridForms: Affected citizens can use the Online Crime Reporting on the police portal to file criminal complaints quickly and contactlessly via web forms. The data submitted is centrally reviewed at the police and then forwarded to the responsible department.

The public police portal for Online Crime Reporting is the digital point of contact for reporting offenses such as theft, fraud and damage to property. It allows users to fill out forms in their web browser without prior registration. The forms are divided into individual sections and all mandatory fields are clearly marked. Sections are only displayed if they are relevant in the respective context. This ensures that the forms always remain clear and well-arranged. After submitting the completed form, a PDF preview is displayed in the web browser, and the user also receives an e-mail confirming receipt.

The qualification of incoming complaints is carried out centrally by responsible officers in a 24/7 monitoring system. The entries of the users can be checked in a further process stage. The cases are then assigned to the responsible office for processing via the Case Management System (VBS).

The security of data & systems is a key aspect at every stage of the process. The web client for data entry at the online portal does not leave any temporary data traces on the user’s end device. Uploads of JPG, PNG and PDF files are checked by the encapsulated upload server and converted into secure PDF formats. This means that evidence of citizens can be safely opened and evaluated by the police. In Rhineland-Palatinate, the original upload data is also stored in encrypted form so that IT forensics can access it if necessary.

The externally entered data is validated by the HybridForms ReachOut Server and provided in encrypted form for collection by the internal HybridForms Server. This ensures complete separation from internal servers.

The state police of the German state Rhineland-Palatinate (with about 4.1 million inhabitants) is assigned to the Ministry of the Interior and Sports. About 9,300 police officers are responsible for public safety – in crime prevention, hazard control & traffic safety.

The state police of the German state of Saarland (with a population of about 980,000) is under the authority of the Saarland Ministry of the Interior, Construction and Sport. Around 2,700 police officers are on duty around the clock to ensure the safety of the people.

Since 2017, the HybridForms form solution has been used by the police in both federal states for digital data capture with the Self-Service App for mobile traffic accidents and criminal reports.