Bonn-Center Empty building used as police special forces training ground
Bonn · Federal police are using the Bonn-Center to train for crisis situations. The Post Tower has already been used in a hostage simulation exercise.
Whether it is a hostage situation, killing spree or terrorist attack, police special forces will generally have rehearsed the incidents they are called out to many times before. The most popular places for training are empty buildings, such as the almost empty Bonn-Center on the Reuter Bridge, which is due to be demolished at the start of November.
A spokesman for the Cologne-based investor, Art Invest, confirmed: “Yes, it is correct. We have given the federal police permission to carry out exercises in the empty parts of the Bonn-Center”. He could not confirm whether or not multiple fire alarms were set off during the training, as reported by residents.
Jens Fören, spokesman for the Federal Police Department in Sankt Augustin confirmed when asked by the General Anzeiger that federal police had trained in the Bonn-Center several times over the last few weeks. Fören said federal police regularly use empty buildings to prepare for incidents, including training for manhunts, house searches or hostage situations.
Of course the police also train at their own premises but Fören said it was always very exciting to use unfamiliar buildings for training. He himself took part in training with a helicopter at the Post Tower, “naturally only after the people working there had gone home.” Fören said they had simulated a hostage taking. He confirmed live ammunition is never used on training exercises outside police grounds.
(Original text: Lisa Inhoffen. Translated by Kate Carey.)
