After knife attacks: Violence against police: GdP calls for debate on equipment

After knife attacks
Violence against police: GdP calls for debate on equipment

Following recent cases of violence and threats against police officers, the police union is calling for a debate on the equipment of officers. Near the Reeperbahn in On Sunday in Hamburg, a man armed with a hammer and Molotov cocktails approached passers-by and police officers in a threatening manner. There were also attacks on police officers during operations in Bavaria and Lower Saxony over the weekend.

“It’s not just about the taser, it’s also about protecting police officers from knife attacks,” said the federal chairman of the police union (GdP), Jochen Kopelke, on Monday on “MDR aktuell”. Tasers are remote electro-impulse devices that police officers can use to keep an attacker at a distance. The police officer shoots arrows connected to wire from a distance of two to five meters. This is painful for the person affected.

After shooting man with hammer: Lower Saxon sent to psychiatric hospital

The man who threatened with a hammer and a Molotov cocktail in Hamburg on Sunday and was shot by police is being transferred to a psychiatric hospital. According to police, the man from Buchholz in Lower Saxony approached passers-by and police in a threatening manner. He did not respond to police instructions, and even the use of pepper spray did not stop him. In the end, the officers shot. No police officers or innocent third parties were injured.

A judge issued a temporary detention order on Monday, Hamburg’s senior public prosecutor Liddy Oechtering told the German Press Agency. It can be assumed that the 39-year-old man was of diminished responsibility or even completely incapable of responsibility at the time of the crime. The reason for this is probably a mental illness. Investigations are being carried out on suspicion of attempted manslaughter and a violation of the weapons law.

More cases of violence and threats over the weekend

There were also attacks on police officers during operations in Bavaria and Lower Saxony over the weekend: A 49-year-old is said to have first knocked over and seriously injured an 84-year-old in Schliersee (Miesbach district) and later attacked a police officer with a knife. The SEK officer only escaped unharmed in the incident on Friday afternoon thanks to his protective equipment, the police said. Without it, he would “certainly have been seriously injured,” said a spokesman.

In the Hanover region, a police officer shot a 30-year-old after he allegedly threatened the officers with a knife. The attacker suffered a calf injury from the shot, police announced on Sunday. According to current information, the 30-year-old got into an argument with employees of a psychiatric hospital in Sehnde-Ilten, who called the police.

In Wolmirstedt, north of Magdeburg, a 27-year-old was shot dead by officers on Friday after he allegedly stabbed a 23-year-old and then injured several people at a private European Championship garden party. The officers said they reached for their weapons after the Afghan tried to attack them with a knife.

GdP: Anyone who attacks others with a knife must expect to be hit with a pistol

GdP chief Kopelke spoke on Monday of an increase in the number of knife attacks. “We see this in the crime statistics, which always look at the previous year. And we experience it in operations. The knife is a particular focus in everyday work.” The police are prepared and trained for when an opponent has a weapon. “The problem is, of course, that they are increasingly having situations in which they do not expect it and that is why the police are increasingly being called upon, even to the point of using firearms.”

Kopelke explained the use of service weapons: “Anyone who attacks others with a knife must expect that a pistol will be used, and that serious injuries will be the result.”

dpa