“Markus Lanz” looks at the crime statistics and looks for the reasons for the increased willingness to use violence.
Minister Buschmann is struggling for answers.
Hamburg – At the beginning of his show on Wednesday evening, Markus Lanz sharpened his knives.
The moderator targets the FDP and accuses it of provoking many conflicts in the coalition.
Why?
Above all, to diminish Robert Habeck's (Green) prospects before the next federal election.
Markus Lanz on ZDF: Marco Buschmann (FDP) debates traffic light Zoff and juvenile delinquency
So the topic in Lanz's ZDF talk for this evening is set for the time being.
Journalist Henrike Roßbach explains the hardened fronts within the traffic light with the fact that the SPD and FDP want to govern in an "evolutionary" way, while the Greens are striving for revolutions.
FDP top politician Marco Buschmann steps in between and underlines how revolutionary his party was with LNG terminals or digitization, for example.
In the next breath, the Federal Minister of Justice also defended his party member and Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner, who does not want to take on any new debts in the future.
According to Buschmann, this announcement is appropriate because we have to return to "normality".
"Markus Lanz" - these were his guests on April 5th
Marco Buschmann, politician (FDP)
Henrike Rossbach, journalist
Dirk Peglow, police officer
Anette Dowideit, journalist
Lanz then asks him whether basic child security is also being rejected for this reason.
Buschmann replies that there are already more than 150 different family policy benefits.
"But 70 percent of the families don't claim the child allowance at all," he says.
Parents with young children just don't have the time to fill out lengthy applications.
That's why he wants to present new concepts first before he talks about financing.
New crime statistics: Is Corona turning out to be a catalyst for aggression?
A new course must also be taken when it comes to criminal prosecution.
Lanz mentions the recently collected crime statistics, which show that 11.5 percent more crimes were committed in 2022 than in the previous year.
Buschmann immediately names the failed corona policy as the cause of the increased crime rate, which would have hit young people particularly hard, which is why they are now more willing to be aggressive.
The author Anette Dowideit reminds that violence in schools was an important issue even before the pandemic and only decreased because of the isolation.
Buschmann admits that the comparison between the years 2021 and 2022 has little meaning.
In his eyes, however, juvenile delinquency should not be underestimated.
Roßbach fully agrees with the previous speaker on this point.
She also announces an intensive review period of the past three years.
"Dealing with children and young people and their families in the corona pandemic will keep us busy for a long time to come."
Buschmann calls for tougher action on "Markus Lanz".
To prevent acts of violence, Marco Buschmann would like to see more consistency and toughness in criminal prosecution.
After all, the necessary laws are there, they just have to be “exhausted to the limit”.
Where this does not happen, frustration arises among the victims, which the FDP politician can certainly understand.
Dowideit agrees with Buschmann about lax law enforcement.
She refers to the riots on the last New Year's Eve, when law enforcement officials were massively attacked.
The journalist then spoke to some of the perpetrators, who bluntly admitted their involvement.
"You can see how little respect they have for law enforcement."
"It's not because of the origin": the police reject blanket judgments against perpetrators
Dirk Peglow, the Federal Chairman of the Association of German Criminal Investigators, then confirmed the increase in violence against police forces.
Even with everyday checks, the increase is noticeable.
He doesn't yet know the exact cause, but: "It's not because of the origin." Peglow rejects this generalization because the personal environment has a much greater influence on the perpetrators.
Buschmann proposes a larger police presence.
According to him, this remedy was also very successful in his hometown of Gelsenkirchen when it came to fighting petty crime.
The 45-year-old still wants to avoid unnecessary arrests.
"We can't throw everyone in jail right away," Buschmann says.
Expert warns: Lack of data retention makes police work more difficult
Data retention was also one of the investigators' elementary tools, as Dirk Peglow explains.
However, since the storage of this information is inadmissible according to a decision by the ECJ, the police officers can no longer access radio cell data without restrictions.
Peglow describes how this verdict makes it more difficult to prosecute perpetrators.
For example, investigators used to be able to create a movement profile of suspects by checking which networks they dialed into.
This is now no longer possible.
Anette Dowideit recognizes a double standard in German criminal prosecution.
On the one hand, they want to protect the privacy of citizens.
On the other hand, the judiciary still uses information from foreign secret services.
Double standards in law enforcement: Data protection sometimes gets in the way of the police
Lanz points out that the exaggerated data protection also has an impact on the local economy because a pharmaceutical company like BionTech continues part of its work abroad.
The lack of access to patient files makes cancer research more difficult, Roßbach explains the reason for BionTech's decision.
"We need an electronic patient file in Germany," admits Buschmann afterwards.
Despite digitization, the fundamental rights of those affected should continue to be protected.
When moderator Markus Lanz asked him why he was so stubbornly opposed to the storage of personal data, Buschmann recalled Germany's history.
Our country has already twice suffered under a dictatorship "in which the privacy of the citizens was trampled on." Something like this shouldn't be repeated.
"Markus Lanz" - The conclusion of the show
Rising crime is a result of lax law enforcement.
German courts would have to apply local laws more harshly.
This signal effect would also relieve the police officers in their daily work.
In addition, data protection, which is circumvented by foreign secret services anyway, should be relaxed in suspected cases.
(Kevin Richau)