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secondUN-Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) held a citizen dialogue with police officers on Monday. The chancellor and officials connected by videoconference. In the online conversation, the Chancellor answered questions from police officers, but also asked them about their daily work in the pandemic.
Some police officers reported what they believed to be a growing propensity for violence among the population. A Berlin policeman observed, for example, an increase in willingness to use violence among people protesting against measures taken by the federal and state governments to contain the pandemic.
“It is important that the regulation and standards are reliable,” he said. Because even citizens who, in principle, are willing to abide by the rules, are often not exactly in the image of what is currently valid.
An Essen police director confirmed this impression. He expressed concern at the sometimes violent protests against the Corona measures. “What is brewing there, what is growing there?” He asked.
He viewed images like the last one from Leipzig with great concern. “People who claim to have Corona spat on you, they show certificates of convenience and no masks are used. That does a lot to the colleagues in the place,” said the policeman. He wondered what would happen in the future.
“That is dramatic”
Another female police officer also reported violence against the police in connection with the enforcement of Corona regulations. Young police officer Lorena Grube from Osterode in Harz cited an example from an operation in Göttingen in June, which had made headlines across Germany. There the corona virus broke out in a residential complex with 700 inhabitants, many of them of Romanian descent.
The building must be quarantined and cordoned off. About a third of the residents tried to storm this barrier. “They threw glass bottles and bricks at us,” Grube said. A stone struck her in the hand, breaking her central seeker. Protesters from left-wing circles had also gathered in front of the house and applauded the outbreak of violence. “Yes, that is dramatic,” Merkel said.
Other policemen demanded clear and precise measures. The crown’s restrictions, which sometimes change very quickly, also differing at the state level and in the cities, posed great challenges to both citizens and police officers.
Gerke Stüven, head of the police commissioner in Wildeshausen in Lower Saxony, said that “it is difficult for us as a policeman to work with appeals and recommendations.” Officers needed a “legally secure room to act”, otherwise they would not have the right to enter the properties, for example, to enforce contact restrictions.
A Thuringian policeman said that since the start of the pandemic, he had heard phrases such as “I don’t want to do your job right now.”
A Harz official also pointed out the risk of infection for police officers. Therefore, you would like more corona tests for police officers, who are often forced to physically approach other people on duty, during searches, arrests, or when someone offers resistance.
“We know what it can do for us”
Beyond Covid-19, the police also addressed the current debate on racism and right-wing extremism in the police force. An Erfurt police officer said that since these were only isolated cases, it was necessary to act selectively to combat this phenomenon and not group everyone. Merkel expressed her understanding when officials were upset by the blanket allegations and assured political support. You have “done everything possible so that there is no widespread suspicion.” At the same time, the Chancellor also emphasized: “We must not look the other way when there is extremism in the police.”
He called on people to “treat each other with care” and campaigned for political consensus. In the Corona crisis, some people have “concerns that this will go on forever” and that rights should be permanently restricted. You can assure: “That is not the case.”
At the end, he thanked the police for their commitment: “We know what he is doing and what he is doing for us. It is an extraordinary moment, a state of emergency that we have not known for a long time ”. He renewed the promise that police officers should have the opportunity to vaccinate in addition to members of risk groups, “if not the first.”
He also spoke out in favor of a more community spirit, saying: “Many citizens stick to the rules. I ask everyone to remember that police officers are also people with fundamental rights, families, concerns and fears. We have to treat each other with care, with all the freedoms we enjoy in this country. “
The online conversation was the penultimate round of conversations in this series between the Chancellor and citizens. In recent weeks the situation in training and nursing has already been discussed. An exchange with students is planned for another meeting with Merkel in this format.
