The chairman of the police union has spoken out in favor of using video surveillance at Christmas markets in view of the increased threat of terrorism. In the last few days there have been three arrests due to possible attack plans.
After three arrests for planned terrorist attacks, the chairman of the police union (GdP), Jochen Kopelke, advises that all Christmas markets be monitored by video.
“Video surveillance at Christmas markets is a helpful tool that should be used intensively using the best technology,” he told the editorial network Germany (RND). So far, this has only been the case in isolated cases because preventive video surveillance is often not possible due to data protection regulations.
Police personnel are heavily strained
Kopelke also points out that the police are required to have a lot of personnel to protect the Christmas markets: “The presence is enforced by changing rosters, vacation bans and overtime.” These extra shifts could not be maintained permanently.
Rainer Wendt, chairman of the German Police Union (DPolG), also sees the police currently under heavy strain. “On the one hand, as a result of the Gaza war, police officers are working to protect Jewish institutions. And on the other hand, the federal police cannot provide support at Christmas markets in the federal states because they are tied to the border,” he told the RND. Those who are or could potentially pose a threat are also intercepted there.
Several arrests for Suspicion of terrorism
Most recently, two young people aged 15 and 16 were arrested in North Rhine-Westphalia and Brandenburg and a 20-year-old was taken into custody in Helmstedt, who are said to have planned an attack on a Christmas market.
The two young people are in custody. Their alleged planning is reminiscent of the attack on December 19, 2016 at the Memorial Church in Berlin, in which a total of 13 people died, one of them as a result years later.
However, the general manager of the German Showmen’s Association, Frank Hakelberg, assured in the Düsseldorf “Rheinische Post”: “The 3,200 Christmas markets in Germany are safe. People should be careful, but not worry.”