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Dortmund: Criminologist criticizes the police's approach to deadly operations

2022-08-10T13:44:45.694Z


“That is incomprehensible at all”: After the death of a 16-year-old from five shots from a police submachine gun, crime researcher Thomas Feltes sharply criticized the operation.


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Dortmund: Candles commemorate the death of the 16-year-old teenager

Photo: Bernd Thissen / dpa

The Bochum criminologist Prof. Thomas Feltes takes a critical view of the police operation in Dortmund, during which a youth was shot.

“Why was a submachine gun used there?

That's incomprehensible at all," Feltes told the dpa news agency.

The submachine gun is primarily intended for killing sprees, not for use against young people with mental health problems.

The martial appearance of eleven police officers with automatic weapons makes a difference because it gives people the impression of an attack, especially if they don't understand German.

"There should always be a psychologist or psychiatrist on missions like this," Feltes said.

The use also shows that pepper spray and tasers often do not have the desired effect.

Pepper spray even has a paradoxical effect on the mentally ill: “They perceive it as an unmotivated attack and launch a counterattack.

It's always the same pattern,” says Feltes.

»If the person concerned does not understand anything, an attack is programmed«

The question is also whether the officials knew that the young person does not understand German.

Such situations are best dealt with in words.

»If the person concerned does not understand anything, an attack is programmed.«

The police in Dortmund's northern part of the city, a social hotspot, are "not exactly known for their restraint," said Feltes.

He criticized the fact that the maxim "solving the problem now and immediately" was firmly anchored in the minds of the police officers.

In such cases, however, it is often better to stabilize the situation and, if possible, to withdraw, said the crime researcher.

A mentally disturbed youth was spotted with a knife in a youth facility in Dortmund on Monday.

Caregivers called the police.

Despite the use of pepper spray and tasers, the youth attacked the police with a knife, according to the prosecutor.

A 29-year-old officer finally fired a salvo of six shots from a submachine gun.

The 16-year-old was hit by five bullets and seriously injured.

He died shortly afterwards during an emergency operation.

As is usual in such cases, the officer is now being investigated for bodily harm resulting in death.

The youth was an unaccompanied refugee from Senegal.

He had recently been treated in a psychiatric ward at his own request for psychological problems.

Feltes said he advocates creating a separate position, for example at the State Criminal Police Office, for internal police investigations after operations like these.

In the current case, there is now the situation that the police in Recklinghausen are investigating against their Dortmund colleagues and the Dortmunders are investigating vice versa because of another fatal operation against Recklinghausen officials.

The NRW Ministry of the Interior nevertheless considers a neutral investigation to be ensured.

DAV advocates independent complaints bodies

The German Lawyers' Association (DAV) has called for clarification and the general establishment of independent complaints offices.

The federal and state police authorities need independent police officers who also accept anonymous complaints, the DAV said.

The police must always act proportionately, whether that was the case in the specific operation must be checked thoroughly, the association demanded.

The state's monopoly on the use of force is a good worth protecting because it prevents vigilantism, for example.

Violence that emanates from the state must move within the limits of the rule of law.

Independent bodies are important to clarify suspected violations.

wit/dpa

Source: spiegel

All life articles on 2022-08-10

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