On Tuesday, the district court, public prosecutor's office and police in Frankfurt, as well as the Hessian Ministry of Justice, gave a positive interim assessment of the model for combating drug-related crime in Frankfurt's Bahnhofsviertel district, which has been in use since 2020.

Police President Gerhard Bereswill said it was clear "that the street drug dealers are impressed" and that some who have been active in the station district for a long time and are known to the police have withdrawn.

Anna Sophia Lang

Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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Susanne Wetzel, President of the Frankfurt district court, spoke of a "prime example of cooperation between authorities", Justice Minister Eva Kühne-Hörmann (CDU) of "dense and sophisticated communication", the results of which ultimately served to ensure the safety of the population.

However, the minister also emphasized that drug-related crime cannot only be fought with the repressive means of criminal law, but that an interdisciplinary approach is also required, in which municipal authorities and social institutions are involved.

The “three-pillar model” was developed by the local court, the police and the public prosecutor.

The Ministry of Justice accompanied the process, among other things, with a joint trip to Cologne, where a similar model has been in use for some time.

In Frankfurt, the aim is to prosecute drug dealers for commercial activities and thus effectively curb crime.

A perpetrator's individual gain is no longer decisive

However, accusations and convictions for commercial trading were rare in this group of perpetrators due to case law.

Because for years it was assumed for commercial activity that the perpetrator earns his livelihood "solely or mainly" by committing criminal offences.

It was all about the profit that a perpetrator made, which hardly led to charges among the "small" street dealers: the police filed dozens of complaints, but in 2018 only one charge was filed, in 2019 two cases were entered but dropped.

A frustrating result for officials.

That changed when the model was established. From then on, the police officers deployed in the station district paid attention to new, jointly developed indicators - the exact criteria of this first pillar of the model did not want to be named by those involved on Tuesday to protect the proceedings - the public prosecutor's office filed charges, the district court ruled.

This case law was confirmed in September 2020 by the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court.

Now it is no longer a matter of the individual profit of a perpetrator.

The focus is elsewhere: Even with small profits, commercial activity can be assumed in view of the quantities sold and the frequency of the crime.

To put it bluntly: If you have been caught several times with a few bags of hashish,

can now be convicted of illegal commercial dealing in narcotics under certain conditions.

The law provides for a prison sentence of not less than one year for such particularly serious cases.

Procedures should be accelerated

The first effects are visible: in 2020, 35 proceedings were initiated and 16 charges brought; in 2021 there were 50 proceedings and 18 charges.

In 19 cases, the accused were sentenced to several years' imprisonment.

In addition, around 100,000 euros were found and confiscated directly from the arrested street dealers.

Asset recovery, which was reformed by lawmakers in 2017, is the second pillar of the Frankfurt model and is intended to ensure that funds from drug deals are withdrawn from the drug cycle - even beyond what dealers have with them when they are arrested.

In addition, there are accelerated proceedings as the third pillar, which according to the law are possible where the facts of the case are simple and no complicated taking of evidence is expected, for example if the accused has confessed.

A maximum of one year's imprisonment may then be imposed.

The accused is to be sentenced within a week and will remain in custody during this time.

It is therefore not possible for him to get back on the street immediately after being arrested by the police.

On Tuesday it was said that so far there had not been many accelerated procedures within the framework of the model.

It has been stated time and again that the taking of evidence takes time.

According to the district court, the lead time to the main hearing in drug-related crimes is currently six to eight weeks on average, and sometimes even shorter in the case of detention cases.