Before the verdict in the Lügde trial at the district court of Detmold, the North Rhine-Westphalian Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) acknowledges errors in dealing with sexual abuse.
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"I think I was typical of many in politics and society, and when it used to be about sexual violence, we said, yes, that is true, but that is exceptional," says Reul in the latest issue of the MIRROR. Now he recognizes a need for action, which he had not seen before. Sexual abuse of children had become "the topic of my term of office".
Read the full story: How Politics and the Authorities overslept the fight against child molestation
Reul announces that he is "forcing" the police authorities in North Rhine-Westphalia. For example, the number of posts dealing with child molestation officials has risen from 104 to 160. The number of pending searches of suspects had dropped from 557 to 427.
Reul demands that every police department set up a room for the interrogation of young victims of abuse. The state criminal police had instructed him to use more undercover investigators in the field of child abuse.
more on the subject
On a campsite in Lügde dozens of children are said to have been abused for years. The Detmold district court has announced that it will be sentencing the two main defendants in the coming week.
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