There were significantly fewer crimes in Bavarian outdoor pools last year than before the corona pandemic. According to Bavarian police statistics, a total of 1,287 crimes were registered on beaches, outdoor pools and bathing establishments in 2022, as reported by the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office (LKA) in Munich. In 2019, the year before the pandemic began, the number was 1,636, and in 2018 there were 1,526 cases. The years 2020 (956 cases) and 2021 (671) can hardly be compared with the other years due to the corona restrictions.
By far the largest number of these crimes in 2022 was theft with 422 cases, followed by “crude crimes and crimes against personal liberty” (196 cases). In 2018 there were only 167 cases – with a larger total number of crimes. The proportion of crimes against sexual self-determination also increased. There were 171 cases in 2022 – compared to 162 in 2019 and 143 in 2018. According to the LKA, figures for the current year are not yet available.
Recently, cases of violence in Berlin’s outdoor pools had made national headlines. At the beginning of July there were violent clashes in outdoor pools in Neukölln and Kreuzberg. The Columbiabad in Neukölln was cleared again. “According to all the numbers I see, the situation in Bavaria is not at all comparable to the situation in Berlin,” Bavaria’s Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU) told the radio station Antenna Bavaria. There are always physical arguments and fights in Bavarian baths. “Then the police have to be called immediately.”
He supports the concept of “giving police officers free entry to the pools if they are willing to intervene if there are problems and to be registered upon entry,” Herrmann told the broadcaster. “I think it’s a practical way to get even more security.”
Bavaria’s Minister of Justice Georg Eisenreich (CSU) supports the call of the designated CDU General Secretary Carsten Linnemann for quick court proceedings for violent offenders in outdoor pools. The prerequisite for this is clear evidence, for example a confession by the perpetrator, the minister told the radio station Bavaria 2. “That’s not the case in so many cases, which means we have accelerated proceedings in about five percent of the charges.” There have already been fast track procedures in Bavaria for adhesive campaigns by climate protection groups or shoplifting.