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Schleswig-Holstein's state police registered 1,280 cases of verbal and physical violence against officials last year.

That was 26 cases more than the year before, as the police reported on Monday in Kiel.

The number of those affected rose from 2,613 to 2,872 and that of injured from 386 to 438.

These numbers are too high, said state police director Michael Wilksen.

“It's about the life and health of our colleagues.

Compared to 2015, the number of cases of violence against police officers increased by 196, those of the officers concerned by 858 and that of the injured by 83.

The police have scientifically investigated the violence against police officers in the north and derived recommendations for action, which are to be gradually implemented in practice.

In a country comparison, the violence against police officers in the north is not particularly high, said study author Lars Riesner.

But the regional differences within the country are strikingly large.

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Lübeck has had the highest numbers here for many years.

The study therefore specifically addressed the question of why this is so.

Every fourth act of violence in the country against police officers is accounted for by the Lübeck police department with its 1200 officers, said the director's head, Norbert Trabs.

“This violence is unacceptable;

There are people behind it. ”According to State Police Director Wilksen, of the approximately 9,500 employees of the state police, a good 4,000 are on patrol and protection, so they have direct contact with citizens.

With regard to the high numbers of violence in Lübeck with 115 injured officials last year, employees of the Criminological Research Center of the State Office of Criminal Investigation examined, among other things, the general crime level, debt level, unemployment rate and per capita income.

On this basis, they came to the conclusion that a “complex interplay” of specific communal and socio-structural characteristics could be assumed to explain the higher burden in Lübeck.

"We can do a lot with the recommendations for action"

In addition, the issue had been treated particularly sensitively in the police department for a long time.

This evidently results in a greater willingness to report incidents.

"There were no other sufficiently reliable explanations for Lübeck's higher levels of exposure in the research project."

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From the point of view of the police, however, valuable recommendations for action for the police throughout the country were derived from the study.

This concerns, among other things, the evaluation of missions, dealing with citizens “in conflict-ridden situations” as well as training and further education, especially with regard to behavior towards drunk people or people who are heavily drugged.

"We can do a lot with the recommendations for action," said Lübeck's police director Trabs.

Surveys of the officials had shown, among other things, that many are not satisfied with the preparation for conflict situations in their training.

According to this, only about half of the missions for which debriefings were requested did they actually take place.

State Police Director Wilksen spoke of honest feedback on points where the police could improve.