Security guard now also in Schondorf

Created: 04/07/2022Updated: 04/07/2022 2:05 p.m

By: Dieter Roettig

The Ammersee municipality of Schondorf also gets them: the security guard.

© dpa/Andreas Gebert

Schondorf – The police had to deal with 131 cases of property damage caused by adolescents in the three Ammersee communities of Schondorf, Utting and Dießen alone last year.

As inspection manager Alfred Ziegler explained at the current municipal council meeting, a security guard would counteract vandalism by uninhibited young people simply by their presence.

Together with Mayor Alexander Herrmann, he campaigned for the introduction of a voluntary security guard funded by the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior in association with Utting and Dießen.

After a sometimes controversial discussion, ten councilors voted in favor and five against.

Willfully destroyed sanitary facilities, threats and racism towards a circus family or, as is currently the case, openly carrying pistols that look real (we reported) can no longer be "played down".

This is the clear statement by supporter Simon Springer (CSU) against the green skeptics Helga Gall and Luzius Klocker or Wolfgang Schraml (FWS).

He even expressed the fear that "people tending towards right-wing radicalism" could apply for the security guard.

Police Chief Ziegler immediately contradicted this.

The selection process lies solely with the police according to strict criteria.

Men and women with a willingness to assume responsibility and moral courage between the ages of 18 and 62 must, for example, have completed school or vocational training and their reliability is checked.

Only then does the detailed and practical basic training take place with quarterly further training.

Mayor Alexander Herrmann made it clear that the emergency services of the security guard "are volunteers of the Free State and are employed, trained and equipped by it." The municipality would therefore incur neither administrative nor personnel costs.

The operations are coordinated by the Dießen Police Inspectorate, which is also where the service begins.

For the trips to the respective place of work, the employees are given a civilian inspection vehicle or are driven in a company car.

Police Chief Ziegler emphasized that the employees of the security guard were neither "auxiliary police officers, black sheriffs, would-be scammers, informers or even a vigilante".

With their visible presence in public, they strengthen the population's sense of security and at the same time deter potential troublemakers and criminals.

In other words, prevention through presence alone.

You can recognize the members of the security guard by a jacket, shirt or baseball cap with the Bavarian state coat of arms and the inscription "Sicherheitswacht" and an ID card.

They may hold a criminal caught in the act until the police arrive, conduct interviews and identity checks, transmit personal information to the police and communities, issue evictions, and act in self-defense and emergency assistance.

The employees are equipped with a digital radio, a first-aid kit, a flashlight and a defense spray.

As police chief Ziegler explained, the volunteer security guards receive an expense allowance of eight euros per hour, with the number of hours being limited to 31 hours per month.

According to Ziegler, three employees each in the communities of Schondorf, Utting and Dießen, who are also available in the evenings and at night, would be ideal.

For larger events, more "security guards" can be flexibly assigned.

Municipal councilor Bettina Hölzle (CSU) found the establishment of the security guard to be optimal in addition to the street workers who will be active in the three west bank communities in the future.

Ideally, employees should have “street worker skills” to nip in the bud any emerging or smoldering conflicts.

Her parliamentary colleague Thomas Beetz thought it was good that the mere fact of the existence of a security guard kept young people from rioting.

Especially since the previously active security service Unger has also terminated its activities in Schondorf and Utting for internal reasons.

There are currently more than 1,200 volunteers working for security guards in 150 Bavarian towns and communities.

In the district of Landsberg am Lech there are already security guards in the town of Landsberg, in the Kaufering market and in Geltendorf.