The market for security technology around Blaichach im Allgäu has grown rapidly since the summer. Many residents of the town of 6,000 are suddenly concerned with the advantages of surveillance cameras and motion detectors. It could be that a garage on your own property will soon catch fire or a pile of wood will burn down. The Kempten criminal police assign between 15 and 20 cases to a series of arsons, and the residents are worried. There were weeks, especially in September, when the fire department had to be called out almost every day.
The criminal police have no objection to surveillance cameras or motion detectors. From the fire investigators’ point of view, it becomes difficult when the people of Blaichach suddenly show their own initiative and want to catch the arsonist or arsonists themselves. A corresponding call went around in town, so one or two deputy sheriffs set out on patrol, often in the evening when it got dark.
Stacks of wood, tons and even containers burned, but no one was injured yet. But when garages catch fire, including the basement of a residential building, it becomes potentially life-threatening. It is therefore definitely well-intentioned to want to play police. But it’s not necessarily helpful for the real investigators. The criminal police in Kempten therefore expressly ask you not to carry out inspections on your own.
Fire investigators must follow up on every tip-off. But if one deputy sheriff finds another deputy sheriff suspicious and therefore reports him to the police, that ties up resources that the investigators would rather put into work that is more productive. For example, recognizing patterns in the arsons that may allow conclusions to be drawn about the perpetrator. Or to recognize free riders who are just imitating the same modus operandi.
A few days ago some winter tires burned again after a long period of silence. The Kempten criminal police are increasingly using uniformed forces, but also civilian investigators. The series of fires is being given “high priority” at the headquarters, according to the police. The investigators hope that they now have the citizen patrols under control and that the residents stay at home with their new surveillance cameras – so that they can finally track down the real arsonist.