Knife Chatter

For those who didn't know....the German Federal Police came out in the past week and said the number of violent assaults involving knives on trains and at train stations....increased in a big way in the past year.

The number?  For 2023....8,951 reported cases of dangerous and serious bodily harm involving knives.  It's up by near 6-percent over the previous year.

So....a comment came out by the Interior Minister (Nancy Faeser, SPD)...she wants 'locals' (note she didn't lay this act upon the Bundestag or the states themselves)....to restrict in some way....oddly using the current 'gun-laws'.  Where this rule change is going?  Currently, the max limit of length on knives in a public setting is 12 centimeters.  Faeser wants it down to six centimeters. 

Added to the words....she wants more knife ban zones....meaning?  Well....in such a zone, the police could walk up to you....ask for an ID, then state a frisk is in order.

We have a weapons-zone in Wiesbaden....the signs are up and it states from this evening time until like 5 AM....an encounter in this 'zone' with the cops....gives them the absolute right to ID/frisk you.  

How effective is this?  Cops in town actively report this on the blotter....usually from walks on Friday and Saturday night....saying 20-odd people were encountered and IDed/frisked....with usually two or three having drugs and maybe one or two per week having a weapon.  The confiscation of the weapon?  Yeah, but you get a automatic summons to the city court....where a judge will hear your stupidity chat....then assess you a couple thousand Euro for a fine.  No one says much if the idiots have the money to pay the fine.....I have my doubts if the city ever collects 100-percent of the fine.

So to the subject of Faeser and the public perception?  Well...the older German folks (those over 50) don't remember all this knife business from the 1980s or 1990s.  If you go to smaller villages or towns?  There's just not a problem there.  You are typically finding it in bigger cities. 

At this point....the enforcement 'gimmick' relates to a zone where you get frisked, confiscation takes place, and you pay a substantial fine.  Rarely does this result in jail-time.  It's a preventative situation....for the most part.

What I think is worrying the Interior Ministry?  Well...the trend is showing more and more knife crimes.....they don't want to wake up in five years with the average number doubling.  There's just not that many 'tricks' left in the book unless you frisk people....find the weapon....then haul them off for six months of jail-time.