As of: March 9, 2024, 6:00 a.m
By: Hans Moritz
Comments
Press
Split
Communication is the be-all and end-all in large-scale operations.
Martin Bachmaier from Dorfen experienced some of these in Munich.
© private
Martin Bachmaier has to make decisions that involve life and death, which no one envies him and which very few people want to make for him.
The 45-year-old from Dorfen is at the Munich police headquarters and is then alerted as a police leader, i.e. operations manager, when “major situations” have to be dealt with – hostage-taking, shooting sprees, blackmail and threats.
Dorfen – Martin Bachmaier is now moving to the German Police University in Münster for three years.
His students there are the aspiring top police leaders from all over Germany - the ones with the gold stars on their uniforms.
He is no longer actively involved, but he trains managers and will also be active in research - comparable to a professorship.
Bachmaier always sees his actions in the context of the Basic Law, decisions of the Federal Constitutional Court and the free-democratic basic order.
Because when danger is imminent, decisions must be made that affect life and limb.
He himself puts it like this: “Sometimes these are decisions on a razor’s edge.” His motto: “The state has to protect life.” And the life of a serious criminal is also fundamentally worth protecting.
Bachmaier remembers an emergency call a few years ago that two men with weapons had been seen at the Ostbahnhof.
Witnesses later reported that they had seen an armed man on a tram.
The police started a standardized procedure with the head of the overall operation and those responsible for individual sections, including the SEK - all competencies in one place.
“In this case, we relied on civilian emergency services to prevent the situation from escalating.
There were colleagues on the tram with me.
“Suddenly it became apparent that the man was loading the weapon,” says the villager.
The plainclothes officers were given permission to use firearms as far as possible before he could kill or seriously injure others.
But it didn't come to an extreme.
“The colleagues acted as if they were getting off at the next stop.
They managed to overpower the man.
Bachmaier admits: “I love the effort.” But for “large locations” he is not directly on site, but coordinated from the headquarters on Ettstrasse.
“We are able to put together a management team very quickly,” says the 45-year-old.
He usually gets pictures of the site quickly to get an overview of the situation on site.
“There are situations in which it has disadvantages if the operations management is on site.” This is the case, for example, when a kidnapper leaves by car.
The terrorist attack at the Olympic shopping center in Munich on July 22, 2016 will remain unforgotten.
Martin Bachmaier was head of the operations center that evening.
© Felix Hörhager
There are missions that Bachmaier experienced first hand – and that he will never forget.
The terrorist attack at the Olympic shopping center on July 22, 2016 is burned into the national memory. “I was alerted at home and took over management of the operations center,” he remembers.
They were dramatic hours, “because we initially had to assume that there were several perpetrators.” Nobody knew that it was a right-wing extremist lone perpetrator.
At this point in time, another memorable operation was just eight months ago: On November 20, 2015, men who were suspected of being terrorists from France in connection with the terrorist attacks were staying in a Munich hotel of Paris, including the Bataclan Theater.
A gas bottle was also found in the room.
“Here we were faced with the question of whether and when we should intervene, i.e. force our way into the room - and possibly put colleagues in great danger,” says Bachmaier.
A little later the men, who were smugglers, were arrested.
My news
Erdinger businessmen criticize road reconstruction: “threatening for our existence” read
Not Berlin: This German flight route is the most popular domestic connection
Because of microsleep: violent accident right in front of elementary school reading
Record trade tax of 450 percent read
Erding: Booster for electromobilityread
Munich Airport threatens strike chaos – Lufthansa explains what passengers can now expect
With this wealth of experience, Bachmaier, who started his career with the riot police in Eichstätt in September 1997, has now moved to the police college in Münster - but only for three years, "because I want to stay close to the action".
He knows that every police officer knows the legal requirements and their limits.
“My concern is to prepare my colleagues tactically, but also ethically, to be able to make decisions under high stress,” he says – and deliberately avoids the phrase “make the right decision”.
The decision-makers must be given the tools to weigh things up.
One premise is that human lives cannot be weighed against each other.
“Fortunately, this is the case in Germany as in many other Western countries.
No life may be sacrificed or integrity violated in order to save another life.” This is an important basis of the rule of law, which has been confirmed several times by the Federal Constitutional Court in the highest courts.
And how do you feel after such missions?
“Often it’s really bad for a few days,” admits Bachmaier.
He is an active runner and skier, but also likes to read a good book to clear his head.
And: Martin Bachmaier has a wife and three children, who are his entire life.
Sometimes he looks at her after hard days and thinks, “I’m doing all this for you.”
For him, it's not just about security, but also about the knowledge that a well-positioned police force with clear rules and no arbitrariness is the pillar of stability in a free society.
He believes that operations not only protect people, but also democracy.