Police officers literally need the “thick skin”.
Because they get to hear so many insults in the service.
And are even physically attacked.
Statistics from the Upper Bavaria South Police Headquarters show how often this happened in 2020 in the Weilheim-Schongau district.
District
- It was only a few days ago that a police officer was attacked by three young people in Schongau. Kicked and beaten. It remained with minor injuries. The fact that attacks on the men and women in blue occur again and again is shown by statistics on violence against officials published by the Upper Bavaria South Police Headquarters. 81 cases were registered at the county's three inspections in 2020 - five more than the previous year.
The Weilheim police recorded 31 of them - almost as many as in 2019. The incidents in Penzberg have decreased significantly.
The officers reported seven attacks there, including - very unlike in the other two inspections in the district - not a single one for insults.
The Schongau colleagues, on the other hand, reported 19 of them.
However, another number stands out among them: there were a total of 43 cases of violence against police officers.
No explanation for the increase in Schongau
Schongau's head of inspection Herbert Kieweg has no explanation for the increase in the past year - there were 17 more cases than in 2019. In any case, it has "nothing to do with the corona pandemic".
There have only been individual cases in which people misbehaved because of the reference to applicable restrictions.
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43 cases, exclusively male perpetrators: the statistics from the Schongau police station.
© PMS
According to Kieweg, there are other reasons that led to attacks on police officers: alcohol and drug influence, for example.
This played a role 18 times in the incidents in Schongau.
Drunk people are particularly likely to insult officials, says Kieweg.
And those who sit behind the wheel under the influence of alcohol often also resist controls.
"Alcohol disinhibits," says Schongau's chief of police, recalling a case from October.
During an ad recording, a man suddenly attacked an officer, insulted him and hit him.
"He had more than two per thousand."
Police officers are also increasingly involved in difficult missions with people in exceptional mental situations or with mental illnesses.
For example, in order to protect them from themselves or to take them to a hospital, “they sometimes have to be handcuffed”.
There is resistance and abuse.
Two police officers were injured in Penzberg
Boris Nechayev, the deputy head of the Weilheim inspection, describes the situation in a similar way.
Alcohol, drugs, psychological problems "make people irrational".
In addition, there is “showing off” when several people are facing police officers at the same time.
“They are strong in the group.” If someone gets off guard, the consequences also depend on how the police officer gets the message.
"We certainly do not display every word," says Nechayev.
Every officer has his own pain threshold.
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The statistics of PI Penzberg show a decrease of 18 cases within two years.
© PMS
But the end is with physical attacks.
There were five of them in Weilheim in 2020, plus two physical injuries.
Eight officers were injured - all of them only slightly, none of them were absent for more than a shift.
There were two physical attacks in Penzberg in 2020, in which two police officers were injured.
Nine police officers were injured in Schongau last year.
"Who likes to be insulted"
The officials know that they have to expect insults and resistance. They are trained for such situations, says Kieweg. Nevertheless, they are “not easy for colleagues. Who likes to be insulted? ”Kieweg is happy that all nine Schongau officers who were injured in 2020 only suffered minor injuries. And regrets that there are repeated attacks on officials. As last in Schongau. The three perpetrators have now been caught and can be punished. "That was an extreme case."
