Police in a German town were ordered not to prosecute migrants for certain crimes - just two months before the New Year's Eve sex attacks in Cologne, it has emerged.

Documents show officers in Kiel, northern Germany, were told to forego prosecuting migrants for theft and criminal damage amid fears there was little chance of succeeding.

The guidelines were issued by the police directorate in the town in October 2015 just months before hundreds of women reported being robbed and molested by migrants in Cologne on December 31.

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Police in a German town were ordered not to prosecute migrants for certain crimes two months before the New Year sex attacks in Cologne, it has emerged (file picture)

German police have now been accused of 'surrendering' in the face of refugee crime.

Documents published by the Bild newspaper on Thursday show that an official guideline issued by the police directorate in Kiel in October 2015 let asylum seekers effectively live outside the laws of the land when it comes to minor theft and criminal damage.

Officers were told there was little chance of success because so many of the arrivals in Germany do not have papers, and often if they do, they are false.

Kiel decided that the costs of pursuing asylum seekers for these low-level offences were too high, the chances of success in court too low.

Kiel's police authority stated that its guidelines should become a 'statewide applicable rule' whereby 'simple/low-threshold offences (shoplifting/vandalism)' by migrants should not be followed up because of the low chance of identifying suspects and gaining a successful prosecution.

But 'higher order' offences are to be treated the same, 'especially serious cases of theft and personal injury,' regardless of whether the perpetrator is a German citizen or a refugee.

The guidelines were sent as a circular to all police stations in Kiel urging restraint if the ID of a migrant suspect could not be ascertained within 12 hours of a crime being reported.

Documents show officers in Kiel, northern Germany, were told to forego prosecuting migrants for theft and criminal damage amid fears there was little chance of succeeding (file picture)

'The reason for the orders is apparently the high effort at the same time as low chances of success, since many refugees carry no identification documents with them,' commented news magazine Focus.

Under pressure after the document surfaced, Kiel's police authority said a new circular dated December 23 last year made the earlier one 'outdated' - but media reports that it contains no references to petty crimes.

The news is cannon fodder for Germany's far right which accuses the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel of letting in 'rapists and thieves' among the million-plus asylum seekers who have come into the country over the course of a year.

One Kiel businesswoman told Bild that the police edict in her city was a 'carte blanche for immigrants to steal.'

Karolina Hofmann, 37, CEO of the household goods shop Kochfest, is outraged. 'For what exactly, please, are we paying our taxes for?

'Police officers should not engage in prevent theft? Offenders in our city are simply getting a free pass.'