Interior Senator Geisel (SPD) mimics the “People's Policeman” and accompanies the police on patrol through Görlitzer Park
A daily comment by Sadhu van Hemp
The corona pandemic is made for the law-and-order faction of law enforcement agencies. Finally, bold action can be taken - thanks to the suspension of civil rights and freedoms ordered by the government. The majority of Germans are not bothered by this and obediently follow the rules that forbid everything that is fun and enjoyable. For almost a year, people have not been allowed to celebrate together, play ball or attend cultural and sporting events as spectators. No Oktoberfest, carnival parades and Christmas markets invite you to drink in groups - to the delight of the police, who are no longer called to fights in pubs and beer tents or have to stand guard at major events. The country is calm, borders are tighter than ever, and the understaffed police force is finally getting the capacity to step up the fight against cannabis-related crime.
Even in red-red-green Berlin, more and more police officers have more and more time for the nice pastime of chasing stoners and street dealers like rabbits. The focus, as ever, is on Görlitzer Park in Kreuzberg-SO36, where not enough crime can happen to justify the need for an even tougher course in cannabis prohibition.
Since beginning of the year the major offensive by the Berlin police against potheads and street dealers in Görlitzer Park is in full swing - with the result that more and more victims of Prohibition are being produced. The shows what is currently going on around the "Görli". balance sheet of the AG "Görlitzer Park" last year: According to the Senate Department of the Interior, the focal point and presence units of the police, in cooperation with the riot police, tripled their hours of operation last year compared to 2019. The officers would have shown a daily presence in Görlitzer Park and between January and November 2020 alone filed a total of 1831 criminal charges for violating the Narcotics Act. That was 28 percent more than in 2019, when 1,435 drug offenses were registered. In addition, 60 kilograms of marijuana, amphetamines and cocaine and income from drug trafficking of more than 290,000 euros were confiscated. In addition, 62 arrest warrants were issued.
At the same time, the number of registered bodily harm, pickpocketing and other thefts and robberies were consistently significantly lower than in 2019. The police attribute this positive development to the fortunate circumstance of the corona epidemic back as the SARS-COV-2 emergency decrees kept tourists and partygoers away. Where otherwise thousands of moths turn the Kreuzberg nights into day and sometimes cause trouble, there is now graveyard silence after sunset - thanks to Corona.
Berlin’s interior senator also wants these paradisiacal conditions during the day for Görlitzer Park and the adjacent Wrangelkiez, where there is still brisk activity on the black market despite corona restrictions. To show that he is a very tough dog in the fight against cannabis and illegal drugs, the social democrat, who was socialized in the “capital of the GDR”, insisted on going on patrol himself in the former free city of Berlin (West). Like a Roman general, Andreas Geisel marched through the park last Friday accompanied by 180 heavily armed police officers to witness the hunt for cannabis users and petty dealers live. He did not want to leave the "Görli" to the dealers, he told the drug war reporters in the local press.
It is not known whether the 55-year-old SPD man lent a hand himself for fun and had the pleasure of examining a victim of cannabis prohibition in the private parts for drug possession.
This content was originally published here.
