To reduce electricity and gas consumption, almost all cities in North Rhine-Westphalia have already set up a task force, crisis team or project group. Among other things, heating in public buildings is to be scaled back, water temperatures lowered and certain buildings no longer illuminated in the evening. In Düsseldorf, one of the measures decided by the city's crisis team is to temporarily switch off 8,000 of the 14,000 gas street lanterns.

The police union (GdP) joins NRW Interior Minister Reul in warning against the emergence of new spaces where people don’t feel safe. "On this topic, the GdP has a clear position: saving energy must not lead to people being left behind in fear. Savings measures must not lead to a loss of security and the feeling of safety," said state chairman Michael Mertens. "Many people work late into the night like waiters and waitresses or people who do shift work. They have to go home at night. We can’t let it happen, that they are then left alone to deal with the dark areas and their fear” Michael Mertens emphasized.

Older people and women are particularly affected by “Angsträumen”, he said. "The feeling of anxiety also increases with age. This means that older people in particular suffer when streets are dark because the streetlights have been turned off. And there are women who no longer dare to leave the house in the evening because of the lack of lighting," Mertens continued.

Erich Rettinghaus, regional chairman of the German Police Union in North Rhine-Westphalia, also warns that the sense of security will suffer as a result of darker cities. "We hope, of course, that there won't be more crime as a result of lights being switched off, but we fear there will be. Because criminals use darkness for robberies," says Rettinghaus.

The city of Moers is taking a leading role in switching off street lanterns. Since 2015, the street lighting there has been switched off on weekdays between 1 a.m. and 3:30 a.m.. Excluded from this measure are areas where there is a high frequency of accidents, crosswalks and traffic signals. In addition, lighting in Moers is not switched off at night on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. So far, the city of Moers is not aware of any notable complaints about the measures. "The comments from the police and fire department also reflect this. Although continuous lighting is seen as positive, there were no serious disadvantages proven due to the night shutdown," said city spokesman Thorsten Schröder. But the subjective feeling of safety is still an issue again and again, especially in the darker (winter) months, he emphasized.

The police union warns that this sense of people feeling unsafe should be taken very seriously. "In the wake of the energy crisis, we may think about all the ways to save money, but we must not leave people in fear because of it. Even if fear cannot be proven by numbers; it does something to people, it changes them. And we have to take that very seriously. Avoidable feelings of fear must be prevented," said Mertens.