Political Criticism
“Germany has a knife problem” – GdP boss warns
Updated on December 27, 2024Reading time: 2 min.
The growing number of knife attacks is causing uncertainty in Germany. The police are calling for stricter laws and increased controls.
The police union (GdP) has called for stricter gun law regulations to counteract increasing knife crime in Germany. The federal chairman of the GdP, Jochen Kopelke, explained: “Intense offenders in particular are not allowed to carry knives and weapons with them.” In his opinion, Germany has a serious “knife problem,” as the German Press Agency (dpa) reports.
Kopelke criticized the current data situation on knife crime and emphasized that more reliable figures will only be recorded from next year. “We are already seeing an increase in the number of incidents involving knife attacks,” said the trade unionist. Knife crime has become part of everyday police work.
There are still no figures on how many knife attacks there were in Germany in total in the year that ended. According to police statistics, 8,951 cases of dangerous or serious bodily harm in which knives were used were registered in Germany in 2023. This corresponds to an increase of almost 9.7 percent compared to the previous year. In addition, 10.9 percent of all robbery crimes were knife attacks. Only acts in which a knife is aimed directly at a person are considered knife attacks. Simply carrying a knife is not recorded.
A dpa survey among state interior ministries and state criminal investigation offices showed regional differences in the development of knife crime in 2023. While increasing numbers were expected in Brandenburg, Saarland, Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein, they remained largely stable in Rhineland-Palatinate, Berlin and Hesse. Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, on the other hand, recorded declines in knife attacks. However, some of the figures are only based on the first ten months of the year.
The debate about tightening gun laws was given new impetus by the fatal knife attack in Solingen in August. The government coalition at the time made up of the SPD, the Greens and the FDP then decided on a security package, which was passed in the Bundestag in October. The new regulations stipulate, among other things, that carrying knives at public events such as folk festivals is expressly prohibited.
The GdP rated the latest changes as an “important step”, but pointed out bottlenecks. Kopelke explained that there is a lack of sufficient personnel to carry out checks in weapons ban zones across the board, regardless of suspicion. “Politicians are increasingly lacking ideas in the fight against this phenomenon,” he criticized.
The increasing knife crime is having a significant impact on the population’s sense of security. “This also makes people in Germany feel very unsafe,” explained the GdP chairman. Young men in particular are increasingly using knives for robberies or in disputes that increasingly escalate into violence.
At the same time, Kopelke praised the work of the medical emergency teams in Germany: “Thanks to the many professionals in the emergency rooms, the victims don’t die as often.” However, more comprehensive measures are needed to combat the phenomenon. He advocated using modern technologies such as artificial intelligence and more video surveillance to better control knife crime.