A sad ongoing issue: violence and aggression
The issue has been topical for years: violence against emergency services. More and more frequently, people who want to help others are obstructed, insulted, threatened or even physically attacked in the course of their work. This sad trend is continuing. There were also such attacks all over Germany during the New Year celebrations. Fire and rescue services were just as affected as the police.
6 Jan 2025Share
Hitting, pushing away or spitting at people are among the most frequent aggressive attacks against emergency services personnel. This is the result of a study by the Chair of Criminology, Criminal Policy and Police Science at Ruhr University Bochum, which was carried out years ago in cooperation with the North Rhine-Westphalia Accident Insurance Fund. Last November, the Bundestag dealt with a planned tightening of the law for such offences. It was initially referred to the relevant committee for further revision.
Survey confirms violence trend
‘The situation is untenable,‘ commented Karl-Heinz Banse, President of the German Firefighters’ Association (DFV), on a survey from last year that dramatically confirmed the trend towards violence. ‘It cannot and must not be the case that almost half of the firefighters surveyed have been insulted, threatened or prevented from working during an operation in the last two years.’ According to Banse, society and politics are now even more called upon to support the backbone of internal security.
In order to also do justice to the questions and needs of the professional fire services, the DFV's preparatory working group further developed the questionnaire from an earlier survey. Representatives from several fire brigades and the trade unions Verdi and Komba were involved. The Institute for Work and Health of the DGUV (IAG) conducted the online survey and analysed the figures. With more than 7,500 people, this time around 1,000 more people were reached than in 2023. Of the volunteer firefighters, around 23 per cent repeated the survey.
Very many people affected
More than half of the volunteer firefighters stated that they had been attacked in the past two years. This confirmed the results from 2023. The proportion was the same for plant firefighters. Among professional firefighters, as many as 75 per cent reported attacks in the last two years. In more than 90 per cent of all those affected, the attacks included verbal abuse and insults.
Consequences demanded
Shortly before the turn of the year, Christoph Bahlmann, head of the Hanover fire service, announced consequences for operations on New Year's Eve and beyond. For example, Bahlmann wanted bodycams for the emergency services and firefighters as well as dashcams for vehicles. He hopes that this will lead to faster clarification and forensic evidence in the event of incidents. He also spoke out in favour of carrying out smaller operations with police escort if necessary. Just how justified his initiative is was also made clear at the turn of the year 2024/2025: as in other places, there were once again several attacks on the emergency services in Hanover.
Discussion at INTERSCHUTZ
Violence against emergency services’ was a recurring topic of discussion at INTERSCHUTZ. ‘Unfortunately, it has not lost its topicality and explosive nature,’ says Bernd Heinold, Project Manager of the world's leading trade fair in Hanover. ‘At INTERSCHUTZ 2026, we will also make our contribution to promoting public understanding of the sometimes life-threatening work of the emergency services, increasing respect for them and thus increasing their safety,’ says Heinold.
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