Despite fewer break-ins in NRW Criminal investigators demand more forces
Düsseldorf · The number of break-ins in private homes has gone down slightly in the first six months of 2016 compared to the same time period last year, but it still remains at a comparatively high level.
More than 62.000 break-ins were registered by the police in 2015. But the number of people affected by this crime is much larger, says Sebastian Fiedler, deputy head of the union of criminal investigators (BDK). He suggests that 20 to 50 people, who know the victims of a burglary, are left with a feeling of insecurity.
NRW's Minister of Interior Affairs Ralf Jäger (SPD) assures citizens that fighting theft and break-ins has a high priority in the state. Prevention, creating awareness and informing citizens are high on the agenda. For example, a new "break-in radar" shows the distribution of theft crimes on a weekly basis in NRW.
Fiedler, however, considers this website useless. "I don’t understand what the purpose of all this should be", he complains. "We don't catch burglars that way. Or should this be an aid for criminals to show them where they have or haven't been yet?" He also criticizes Thomas de Maizière, Federal Minister of Interior Affairs, who has suggested training "Hilfspolizisten" (police assistants); Fiedler calls that idea "ridiculous".
Fiedler feels that the state authorities do not take the citizens' concerns seriously. Instead he calls for more and better trained policemen. "It is simply not true that burglaries and break-ins are happening everywhere in a high frequency. The states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg for example have decreasing numbers. The police force there is stronger, they have special investigative units, and they catch more burglars than we do," he argues. In his union's opinion, NRW needs about 700 more criminal investigators in special investigative units. Altogether he sees a statewide deficit of 2,000 forces.
As an example, he quotes the amount of cases a criminal investigator in NRW is assigned. "Our colleagues in Cologne, Hamburg or Berlin are covering twice as many cases compared to investigators in Munich. No wonder the quota for resolved cases is 44 percent in Cologne, meanwhile Munich has a quota of 64 percent."
Despite the current decreasing trend in break-ins and burglaries, the numbers stay high. According to police statistics, NRW had 3,670 cases in June 2016 (3,326 in May 2016). The highest numbers were registered in Cologne (412), Recklinghausen (208) and Essen (192).
(Orig. text: Matthias Korfmann)
