Police Study

ARD (public TV, Channel One) did an interesting report on the police and it relates to some degree to the Stuttgart riot from the weekend.

The Federal Police sat down with the numbers and noted the number of occasions that resistance to police arrest/detention occurred in 2019.  The number?  36,959.

That's 8-percent over the previous year.

Average numbers?  The Federal Police say it's been roughly the same number for fifteen years now.

So most people would sit and imagine that it's mostly all urban zones affected (that's what I thought), but no....it's smaller towns (Cottbus, Rosenheim, and Landshut get mentioned).

Last year, around 14k folks were processed on charges in Germany of assault on the police.  11,500 of them were male....so there were a few females in the mix.  Alcohol involved in the incident?  The data shows alcohol involved in 60-percent of these cases. 

What all of this leads to?  In general, resisting the police has some connection back to alcohol for the most part.  I suspect if you drug-tested all of these folks....you might find more data that explains the problems. 

But trying to suggest a beer tap-halt on pubs at 10 PM, or limiting drinks for consumers?  It's hard to imagine Germans accepting that type of change.

A lot of the police presence for DWI situations now....is a mass police presence.  You will occasionally see a block on the autobahns or major drags out of a urban center....with twenty-odd police pulling people into a line and doing a mass alcohol check.  No one says much for these occasions and I doubt if people resist at this type of event.

Years ago, in the late 70s as I arrived on my first tour of Germany....there were various bits of advice I was given on the Frankfurt scene.  One of those discussions centered around respect of the police.  'Don't do anything stupid or insulting to the police' was heavily stressed.  In that time period, the police still carried billy-clubs and using them wasn't a big deal.

Over the past two decades, I'd say that a number of things have changed, and with a little bit of booze or drugs....you'd get the 'courage' to resist the police, or challenge them.  Nothing good will come out of this, but it'll end up as a front-page item for the news people.