police germany evidence theft
Roommate accusing me of theft in Germany
<p>my stuff kept going missing and when I asked my roommate they denied but later I looked through their bags and found out it that they were stealing my stuff and hiding it in their bag. I took a picture of my stuff that I found in the bags. then I packed my things and left cause I was scared from them. when they called me I confronted them and they denied and accused me of putting my stuff in their bag to falsely accuse them of stealing from me, but now I am suspecting that they are gonna call the police accusing me of stealing their stuff can they do that? and what will the police do? how does the police system in Germany works in such situations?</p>

<p><a href="/questions/tagged/germany" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged &#39;germany&#39;" aria-label="show questions tagged &#39;germany&#39;" rel="tag" aria-labelledby="tag-germany-tooltip-container">germany</a></p>
<ul>
<li>Anybody <em>can</em> call the police and file charges. The police will probably ask both sides to make statements for the record. If you are potentially accused of a crime, they will inform you of your right not to testify, which can be scary if you are not familiar with the legal language.<br />
You can file charges against the other side at this point, too. Police are familiar with situations where two sides accuse each other.</li>
<li>Having collected evidence and statements, the police decide if there is enough of a case to present it to the prosecutor's office. That's not yet a determination of guilt, it merely means that they will look into it further. The prosecutor decides if there is enough of a case to bring it to court. (The prosecutor must see a likelihood of success.)</li>
<li>If the case goes to trial, there will probably be a single judge, no jury. You are not required to have a defense attorney, but you might want to if there are language problems. However, in the German system, the judge is not merely the 'referee' between the prosecution and defense. The judge is supposed to question witnesses to understand what happened, and in many cases the judge will ask the same questions a defender would have asked.</li>
<li>For minor crimes, there is a procedure called <em>Strafbefehl</em>, which is important to understand. It is a letter with the offer of a sort of 'plea bargain,' which goes into effect unless you <em>refuse</em> it quickly and demand a trial. Doing nothing means you accept.</li>
</ul>
