They had a big public meeting in Wiesbaden (my local city) yesterday. Basically, they wanted to hype how safe you are in the city.....then they got around to the statistical numbers, and how unsafe you are. Our local news folks....Wiesbadenaktuell....wrote up the bulk of the piece.
Based on polls, the mayor is a bit surprised now that the uneasiness about security and safety has become a top topic among locals in town. It was even mentioned that in social media....it's a trending topic in town now.
Assaults involving weapons (guns, knives, batons, etc)? The public has kinda noticed trends. So the town council, the mayor, and the chief of police have a new strategy program.
Video cameras? More are going to go up around the train station, and the local city park system.
They picked out two bus stops in town, that seem to see violence and theft on a regular basis.....that will be 'monitored' more often.
They talked over 'Amokfahrten'....the act of taking a vehicle as a weapon and running down people on the walk-platz. Some type of entry barriers will be going up on the walk-platz, and limiting vehicle traffic. For stores, trying to get delivery....it's a big negative with these barriers.
They are going to review the idea of a no-alcohol zone. It's hard to imagine how this would work, and if anyone would respect the idea. My guess is that most would drink safely outside of the zone, and walk back within the zone drunk.
They admitted 255 episodes in the city where weapons of some type....were used in 2017....most being knives or batons. That's a 28-percent increase over 2016. Then they kinda admitted that the bulk of all of thee attacks occurred between 9 PM and 5 AM.
The shocker in this list of topics discussed? A temporary weapon free zone. You would think that the whole city would be declared a weapon free zone, but no....they were pushing toward a particular district or area. I sat and tried to imagine how this would work, and the only method is to bulk up on cops and actually stop people to frisk in that zone. The odds of German cops regularly doing that? You just don't see stop and frisk done in Germany....with the exception of entering soccer stadiums.
Where this all leads? Anyone who lived around Wiesbaden in the 1970s and 1980s....would say that the town was absolutely the safest place on Earth. Kids could run around at 10 PM at night, and you didn't have to worry about anything. Over the past two decades....things changed. I will still say that the city is extremely safe in daylight hours, and for evening periods....I'll point out two areas of town that you'd best avoid. And for activities after 11 PM? No, you would be smart to have returned to the safety of your home.
I won't stand and play the blame game....there are various factors that shifted over the past twenty years and triggered public worry over safety. The fact that social media now carries personal opinions out to hundreds of people over a day, and hypes the situation....is simply part of the bigger picture here.
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