Crime statistics - Ministry observes more violence against emergency services
According to an assessment by the Thuringian Ministry of the Interior, police officers and firefighters were again exposed to an increasing risk of becoming victims of attacks as the year drew to a close. "Compared to previous years, violence against police officers and emergency services is steadily increasing," a spokesperson for the ministry told the German Press Agency. The state's monopoly on the use of force is increasingly being called into question.
According to the Ministry of the Interior, exact figures on attacks this year are not yet available - not even for the first three quarters of the year. The data for the year as a whole will not be available until the first quarter of 2024, it said.
The police crime statistics for 2021 listed 69 cases in which, for example, firefighters or paramedics were attacked. In the corresponding data for 2022, 73 such incidents were recorded. Among other things, the police recorded physical assaults, but also threats, coercion and, in one case, sexual harassment. Around one in three recorded assaults involved bodily harm.
The Ministry of the Interior wants to take several measures to ensure that the number of attacks falls. For example, there is a campaign entitled "Respect, yes please!". In a video, emergency services call for more respect towards them, also pointing out that they also have families to whom they want to return in good health after their work. In the video, emergency medics and firefighters describe how they have been threatened and attacked in the past during their rescue missions. One firefighter recounts how a man attacked him and his comrades with an axe. Others report being kicked, thrown with knives and insulted.
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The operational force in Thuringia, specifically the police, is dealing with a rising trend of criminality against emergency services, as revealed by the Ministry of the Interior's analysis. This incremental violence against police officers and emergency services, as reported by the German Press Agency, is causing concern within the ministry. The Ministry of the Interior is yet to release detailed crime statistics for 2022, with the full year's data not expected until the first quarter of 2024. In an effort to combat this issue, the ministry has launched a campaign titled "Respect, yes please!", encouraging more consideration towards emergency services and highlighting the personal impacts of attacks.
Source: www.stern.de
