Siegen - city center

"The police don't look the other way, they ensure safety - this is particularly important in the area of Siegen's city center," says District Administrator Andreas Müller, head of the district police authority: "That's why we will be paying special attention to the city center area with a focus on the ZOB, the pedestrian zone in the city center, the parks and the main traffic axis Sandstraße - Kölner Straße over the next four weeks.

Arrangement of the strategic manhunt:

We will maintain a constant presence and carry out checks and flanking actions," said Müller: "We will use the 'strategic manhunt' tool for this. I have initially ordered this for a period of 28 days until June 19. Visual checks without a specific reason and identity checks must be proportionate. That's why a 'strategic search' is limited in terms of space and time."

Why is the strategic search ordered, what is its aim?

The upcoming summer season traditionally attracts many people to the city center. Added to this is the European Football Championship, which experience has shown to attract even more people to the city, Müller is convinced. "With the 'strategic search', we want to combat the various forms of crime in Siegen's city center. We emphasize that the legal rules of the game apply to everyone. We make it clear to potential criminals that we are targeting them. The message is: 'Watch out, you will be checked - and crimes will be consistently prosecuted."

The aim is to combat crime, to shed light on the dark field and to avoid lawless areas, said the district administrator today at an appointment in the city center: "I want to strengthen the citizens' sense of security. That is an important concern for me!" Initial discussions with interested citizens have already taken place during today's tour of the action/search area.

What does "strategic search" mean?

On the basis of the Police Act, strategic searches make it possible to stop people without concrete suspicion, question them about their identity and inspect vehicles and items they are carrying, taking particular account of proportionality. The aim of strategic searches is to prevent crimes of major significance. In addition, the police can also use it to shed light on offender structures.

The strategic search as a supplement to the previous concept:

"The district police authority will carry out further control operations, including with the support of the riot police, in addition to a larger joint control operation with the network partners from the public order office of the city of Siegen and the federal police. In the past, we have already carried out very extensive and successful measures to combat crime in the city center of Siegen. The planned measures in connection with the "strategic manhunt" extend the existing concept," adds Chief Police Director Klaus Bunse.

"I would already like to thank all my colleagues for their dedicated work!" emphasizes Müller.