So far, there have hardly been any court cases related to ethnic profiling in Germany. The case of a young black German man, who was subject to an identity check on a train on the basis of his skin colour, is the first case in which the phenomenon of ethnic profiling has been discussed as such.

A verdict of the Administrative Court of Augsburg shows that ethnic profiling is used in identity checks conducted in the course of ‘veil searches’, without reason for suspicion.

After the 11 September attacks, the regional (Land) police authorities re-introduced dragnet investigations in co-operation with the Federal Criminal Police Office. These investigations use ethnic profiling to search for Muslim men in a targeted manner.