“The operations are getting tougher”
Police union sees stress test on New Year’s Eve
December 31, 2023, 9:38 a.m
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What some celebrate as great fun is a nightmare for police and rescue workers: Another New Year’s Eve is approaching. The police union warns against groups “for whom serious violence is something normal.” At least Barmer also announces good news.
In the run-up to New Year’s Eve, the federal chairman of the police union (GdP), Jochen Kopelke, described the situation as a “stress test” and at the same time warned against certain “groups of perpetrators”. “As in the past, New Year’s Eve will be a stress test for the police, fire brigade and rescue workers,” Kopelke told the newspapers of the Funke media group. At the same time, he warned against “alarmism”. Kopelke emphasized: “Society is not becoming more and more brutal.” However, groups can be identified “for whom serious violence is something normal”.
With a view to the increased number of cases of attacks against emergency services, the GdP boss said: “We keep hearing from officials about experiences of violence during operations. And many say: the operations are getting rougher.” Police officers are “insulted and insulted, and physical attacks occur again and again.” At the same time, the union is observing a growing sensitivity among officials to report and report incidents of insults or assaults. Kopelke said: “That’s good because it shows that the police officers take verbal or physical violence against them seriously and don’t hide it.”
Kopelke emphasized that “it is not bans or harsher penalties that would help.” The GdP leader said: “The state does not win through repression. And violence against uniformed people cannot be solved by non-uniformed people – that is a task for the entire society; schools, the judiciary, social work, local politics and neighborhood initiatives must pull together. “
Last year there were riots in several places in Germany at the turn of the year. Emergency services were also massively attacked. Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser from the SPD then suggested tightening the legal situation.
Fewer hospital treatments on New Year’s Eve
A current analysis by the Barmer health insurance company shows that fewer and fewer people have to go to hospital on New Year’s Eve because of injuries, burns or excessive alcohol consumption. According to the study, which is based on extrapolated billing data from the past six years and is available to the Germany editorial network, these cases fell nationwide from 8,950 at the turn of 2018 to 6,050 at the turn of 2023. This corresponds to a decrease of around 32 percent.
After a small increase at the turn of the year 2020 (9,210 cases), according to Barmer data, there was a particularly sharp decline of almost 3,000 cases during the period of the corona pandemic, when parties and fireworks were banned or limited. But even after all protective measures expired, the number of hospital treatments continued to fall on New Year’s Eve, albeit only slightly by 230 cases.
The investigation examined inpatient treatments that were necessary due to the consumption of too much alcohol or the suspected improper use of fireworks. This can include, for example, alcohol poisoning, injuries to the head, eyes or hands, and burns.