EXB 172

CRIME
CRIME
Alex’s expansive train station is a hectic yet crucial
stop on their patrol. An opportunity for the Berlin officers
to check in with two of their Bundespolizei colleagues
(responsible for stations and airports), who don sharp,
all-black gear and sport body cameras on their vests.
But here again tourist queries seem to be the main police
duty. Gottschlag is happy to accommodate and exhibit
his good English. Meanwhile Officer Blumberg warns
customers at outdoor cafés against leaving their phones
out in the open.
On the U8 platform, another regular stop on the patrol, we
run into BVG inspectors writing up two women in their midtwenties.
They’ve been caught on the train without tickets,
and claim they have neither money to pay the €60 fine nor
ID on them. Blumberg asks to search their bags, which they
legally could anyway, and discovers their passports. A look of
embarrassment immediately flashes across the girls’ faces as
it becomes clear they have been caught red-handed trying to
provide false information. “Not the smartest move,” comments
an impervious Gottschlag.
Emerging from underground, the officers make a beeline
for three young Middle Eastern kids sitting on the steps in
front of Primark. The youngest is no older than 12, the oldest
probably only around 18 or 19, with the third somewhere in
between. They pose no danger to anyone, and a few (white)
couples sit just as inconspicuously on the same steps, but
the officers ask them for ID, which they all whip out with no
hesitation. The policemen shoot off a series of questions.
Suddenly, the interaction feels routine. The oldest whispers
some words to his younger friends, seemingly reassuring
the 12-year-old, who has resorted to picking at his nails. Out
of nowhere, the officers ask for the boys’ smartphones.
Apprehensively, they hand them over. Blumberg pokes through
some menus before radioing a number over to dispatch. After
some uncomfortable waiting around, the phones are handed
back, along with a cheery sign-off from the officers, and the
boys are finally left alone.
Gottschlag is quick to justify the interaction: one of the
teens is known to Officer Blumberg from “previous incidents”.
Furthermore, the phones such “groups” have often
tend to have been stolen. The number that was relayed was
the smartphone’s IMEI number, which the police search for
in their database of stolen or lost phones. He notes that the
Berlin police maintain a record of people and groups that
have been involved in incidents, better allowing them to
identify sources of trouble that they can then in turn stop,
search and question. The profiling is justified as merely factual
and never racial. Their aim is to keep tabs and regularly
check in on “sources of trouble”, in the hopes of quelling
conflict before it arises. (See sidebar)
Gottschlag and his colleagues return to their desks for the
slog of paperwork that follows each patrol. “For every 10
minutes of on-the-ground police work, there are 20 minutes
of desk work,” admits the assistant chief. Such is life.
The new sense of safety is palpable on Alex and the police
hope their efforts and increased visibility will be reflected
in the statistics for 2018, following last year’s increase in assaults,
thefts and robberies on Alexanderplatz. “The feeling
is that there are fewer groups around who might get into conflict
with the law,” says the chief of the Alexanderplatz Wache
Daniela Polti. If true, the question remains: if these “troubleprone
groups” are no longer hanging out at Alex, where have
they gone? n
Q & A
Daniela Polti, chief of
Alexanderplatz Wache
Has Alex gotten safer since the
booth was set up? We don’t have
the stats for 2018 yet. But the feeling
is that there are fewer groups
of people around who might get
into conflict with the law.
Why is crime so high on Alex
anyway? Considering that
around 360,000 people pass
through every day, the crime rate
is not terribly high. But obviously
quite a lot of crimes are
committed in such a concentrated
area.
Especially violent crime; there
were 668 violent assaults and
one murder in 2017! Those
went up because last summer
we had a particular issue with
groups of young men from
Syria, Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan
clashing with each other, often
over ethnic, racial and religious
differences.
The Berlin police have been
accused of racial profiling.
We don’t have an issue with
races, but with certain groups
identified from our experience as
sources of trouble. If you fit into
one of these groups, then you’re
more likely to be controlled. For
example, before the immigration
wave in 2015, we had trouble
with “emotional punks” who
were often drunk and took drugs
in public, and occasionally committed
assault. Today they're
not so much of a problem. We
always start with our knowledge
of who is a source of crime, and
that’s when we control them
more. If the group is no longer
causing trouble, then we stop
checking them. It has nothing
to do with racial profiling but
rather how a particular group
tends to behave. If we did racial
profiling, we’d be stopping lots
of black people, right? But we
aren’t, because they are not the
ones causing trouble.
But you do check more young
Middle Eastern people? These
men are mostly very young,
ranging from 18 to mid-twenties.
The potential for groups of
young men to drink and cause
trouble is higher anyway, no
matter where they come from.
How are you navigating the
role of police chief here as a
woman? How many women
work with you? [Laughs
warmly] There are five women,
including myself, working in the
station now. It varies since most
officers stay here for half a year
and then transfer elsewhere. I
feel it’s no problem commanding
a team of men. I have a great
team of young, serious and very
dedicated guys. I do not feel my
male co-workers have a problem
with me being a woman.
JUNE 2018
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