Munich / Bavaria: When should rescuers be better placed under the protection of the police?

Since service personnel often feel safer in the service, they want to be protected by the police in the future. What the union and professional firefighters say.

Update of Thursday, November 29th: They are the helpers in distress, but often firefighters and ambulance teams are themselves victims of aggression or insults. Siegfried Maier, president of the State Group of German Firefighters in Bavaria, is now asking for police protection during certain operations. On special days, such as New Year's Eve, big festivals or special places, rescue teams must be protected to prevent attacks.

This year, for example, rescuers from Monopteros or an emergency doctor in Ottobrunn were attacked. In Hirschgarten, rioters stole an ambulance (see below). Maier: "It is necessary to create a central reporting channel for incidents of violence against firefighters and rescue services." Incidents are becoming fiercer. But the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior has little support, he criticizes. The unionist wants violence against emergency services to be punishable by a minimum sentence of six months.

Maier is a member of the Munich Professional Fire Department. Here, we consider the unionist's claim of "something radically formulated". However, each proposal deserves to be discussed "openly", as Fire Department spokesman Klaus Heimlich explained. According to Heimlich, affected colleagues can already report attacks. "These reactions show no increase in attacks," says Heimlich.

More attacks against emergency services? That said the statistics

This is also confirmed by the figures of the Ministry of the Interior. Statistically, it was in 2017 in Bavaria with every 2500th use committed, we will learn about our newspaper's investigation. In 2017, 88

Offenses against registered firefighters. "Immediate and permanent police protection in any fire-fighting operation would not be justified," said a spokesman for the ministry. Nevertheless, he said: "Attacks against firefighters must be systematically sanctioned in each individual case.The harshness of the rule of law is here demanded." According to the ministry, firefighters are accompanied by the police when there are warnings of concrete danger or in larger missions such as Oktoberfest. Moreover, the previous year, Bavaria had begun to tighten the sanctions applicable to attacks on emergency services at the federal level.

Among the subtle concerns, the fire department suffers from Heimlich and not from Maier. "The number of applicants is still higher than our demand for junior staff," Heimlich said. But unionist Maier warns that this could change. Especially since more than 95% of Bavarian volunteers volunteered.

Video: more and more rescue teams are attacked

Munich Fire Department: memorable use in the deer garden

Peter Vorderholz also has memorable missions behind him. A rescue experience of a patient suffering from a heart attack in Hirschgarten always pushes colleagues from Maier in the vicinity. "Five loud men stole the back of our ambulance in our backs and wanted to overthrow him," complains the 52-year-old.

Trade Unionist Maier has collected such cases and turned to politics. For a whole year, he tried to impress on Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann his concern. The CSU politician responded to the letters "thank God only for isolated cases".

Maier is not satisfied with this reaction. "They are moving away, we demand more security," said the firefighter. "The protection of the police, fines and at least six months of imprisonment without parole," says the 48-year-old.

LKS / kv

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