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Special commission on child abuse “BAO Berg” takes stock
The special commission “BAO Berg” formally ends its activities. BAO stands for “special organizational structure”. The SoKo was launched when, at the end of 2019, the police found vast amounts of data from relevant chat groups from a pedophile family man from Bergisch Gladbach who had meanwhile been convicted. The police and the public prosecutor held a press conference on Wednesday. The Cologne Police President Uwe Jacob was still deeply affected by the investigation: O-TON UWE JACOB, POLICE PRESIDENT COLOGNE: “From my personal point of view, I can only say: In more than 40 years of service I have certainly seen a lot of suffering and unusual and bad ones Proceedings. But what we have uncovered here goes beyond all standards. That is why I say explicitly: Today there is no reason to celebrate, despite the 65 freed children and the many suspects that we were able to identify. That is why we suffer have uncovered here, way too big. ” No wonder, because the youngest victim was 3 months old, the oldest 17 years. The work of the investigators was extremely stressful psychologically, as the head of the BAO Berg Michael Esser confirms: O-TON MICHAEL ESSER, CRIME DIRECTOR AND HEAD OF BAO BERG: “Emotionally we went to the limits. It is certainly emotional for the families concerned, the The children and the bereaved wives were very stressful. But the employees in the BAO also saw, experienced, heard and had to write down enormous suffering here, which then also led to psychological stress, which we had to use a separate section with psychological and police pastoral support then tried to cushion them. ” But at least 27 alleged perpetrators could be arrested nationwide. Traces also led to other countries across Europe, overseas or Russia. And even if the BAO Berg was formally ended, the fight against the sexual abuse of children remains one of the priorities of the Cologne police.
The SoKo was launched when, at the end of 2019, the police found data from relevant chat groups on a pedophile family man from Bergisch Gladbach.