The knowledge of public safety underwent a profound transformation in the Federal Republic of Germany between 1965 and 1984. As the criminal police digitized their information processing and left-wing terrorism shook the Federal Republic, new methods, media, and ways of thinking about crime and its prevention emerged. Between dragnet investigations and the Red Army Faction, the West German security apparatus was transferred into the digital society. The investigative apparatus began to falter in the late 1960s. Statistics showed a contrast between rising crime rates and declining clearance rates. Police officers, criminal investigators, and politicians diagnosed a crisis within the police force. To address this, they simultaneously focused on reconfiguring their information processing and their image of criminals, particularly in relation to the figures of the partisan and the terrorist.