14 Taser operations in May: Cologne police take stock

Created: 2022-06-02 20:19

By: Mick Oberbusch

The police in Cologne took stock after the first month of Taser operations (IDZRW assembly).

© Future Image/Imago & Rolf Vennenbernd/dpa

Tasers have been in use by the Cologne police for a month.

A taser was actually used four times.

An initial assessment by the police is positive.

Cologne – North Rhine-Westphalia Interior Minister Herbert Reul had spoken of “enormous added value” with regard to the decision communicated in January 2022 to provide the police in North Rhine-Westphalia with 700 new tasers – now, in technical terms, distance electro-pulsation devices (DEIG) have been in for exactly one month Use.

Time for the Cologne police to draw a conclusion after the first 30 days of operation.

Cologne: 14 Taser missions since the beginning of May – only threatened in ten cases

According to the Cologne police, there were a total of 14 Taser operations in the cathedral city throughout May.

Martin Lotz, Head of the Emergency Response and Operations Directorate, draws an initial positive balance: “In ten cases, the mere threat was enough to de-escalate the situation.

Among other things, a suspected thief allowed himself to be arrested without resistance and an aggressive drunk woman stopped her attack on my colleagues.”

Police use tasers in Cologne – if the other person does not react to being spoken to

And people are also extremely satisfied with the cases in which the taser was actually used, as 24RHEIN reports.

In four operations in which the police also used the device after being threatened, people would not have responded to speeches or other resources.

"There was a risk that they would have seriously injured themselves without the DEIG service," explains Martin Lotz.

NRW: One month Taser operations at the Cologne police - the balance

• According to the police, there have been a total of 14 Taser operations

  in Cologne since the beginning of May

  .

• In

  ten cases

  , use was merely threatened.

• In

  four cases

  , the use of a Taser prevented a "serious physical altercation between police officers and those opposite them".

• At the beginning of January, the release of

  700 new Tasers

  was communicated to the NRW police.

"All operations in which the DEIG was used or threatened were situations in which there were regularly serious physical altercations between my colleagues and the other person." In this respect, the expectations of the "new resource were met to a large extent". .

Police in Cologne use tasers against 16-year-olds at Theodor-Heuss-Ring

Most recently on the night of Monday (May 30th), when the video surveillance recognized a youth (16) with a machete in his hand in the area of ​​the Theodor-Heuss-Ring.

"Under the threat of DEIG, the police managed to arrest the 16-year-old without resistance.

He had previously hidden the machete under his jacket," authorities said.