Detectives Advocate Drop Out Program for Islamists

German detectives have called for more help for Muslim extremists ready to get out of the scene and cooperate with the police. "Criminal investigators lack the necessary tools to break someone out of the circle or surroundings of violent Islamists," Klaus Jansen, head of the German detective union BDK, told the Associated Press. The recent Düsseldorf trial, in which a Jordanian man was sentenced to four years in jail for his role in helping plan terrorist attacks in Germany, had shown that some Islamic extremists are willing to cooperate with the police. The convicted man had received less than half the maximum sentence because of the extensive testimony he had given. Jansen said a policy of leniency should be extended to Islamists who are prepared to provide police with useful information, but that it should mainly be offered to supporters and confidants rather than the perpetrators of crimes. Jansen also called for a phone hotline that Islamists could use to anonymously pass information on to police. Jansen criticized the fact that Interior Minister Schily has supported a change to leniency policies for chief witnesses but rejects a drop out program. Justice Minister Zypries has dismissed altering leniency policies.