Attacks against police in Bonn Campaign to prevent violence against emergency personnel
BONN/REGION · Disrespect of the police or rescue services continues to increase in Bonn and the region. On the initiative of the Rhine-Sieg district, a campaign has begun to highlight the issue.
Insults, disrespect or even hitting and shoving are now almost the order of the day for the police, fire brigade, Technisches Hilfswerk (THW) (a civil protection organisation) or the rescue services. There is hardly an officer or volunteer helper who has not been insulted, hit or spat on. It is a problem that has been virulent for a long time and one that the local communities, towns and police authorities want to deal with firmly.
On the initiative of the Siegburg police, district administrator Sebastian Schuster, who is also chief of police for the Rhine-Sieg district, the 19 mayors of the Rhine-Sieg district, Lord Mayor Ashok Sridharan and police president Ursula Brohl-Sowa, have joined forces to call for more respect for emergency personnel. These also include officers of the Malteser organisation, the Red Cross and the THW.
The “Respect – Bonn/Rhine-Sieg” campaign was launched at Bonn’s police headquarters on Monday. In the coming weeks, corresponding stickers will adorn operational vehicles and flyers will also be handed out. “We want to increase awareness that the people on duty want to save other people. It is not acceptable that while doing this they are hindered, insulted or violently assaulted,” said Schuster.
Sridharan agreed with him: “We have a zero tolerance strategy.” Even if it is not always obvious to outsiders at first glance why fire brigades and rescue services are carrying out certain measures, “you should trust that the services have learnt their trade and are doing what needs to be done.”
The Bonn police authority, which is responsible for Bonn, Königswinter, Bad Honnef, and the Rhine-Sieg district on the left bank of the Rhine, entered around 400 criminal charges of bodily harm, resistance or abusive language in 2018. The figures in recent years have been around this level, said Brohl-Sowa. There is good news to report from the judiciary: these criminal offences have since been severely punished. Original text: Ayla Jacob. Translation: kc
