On 16.01.2020, the head of the authority, District Administrator Sebastian Schuster, gave the go-ahead for the security program of the district police authority in the Rhein-Sieg district. The core and new focus of the security program is safety and, above all, people's sense of security in public spaces.
The focus of the last five years has been on reducing the number of domestic burglaries. Thanks to the measures and concepts developed, the number of domestic burglaries was reduced from 1107 in 2015 to 592 in 2018. This trend will continue in 2019 (the 2019 annual report is not yet available). The district police authority will of course continue to work on combating domestic burglaries.
2020: Rhine-Sieg-Safe
Improving safety on public streets and squares will be a top priority in the coming years. Crimes such as assaults, fights and mobs, robberies, damage to property, theft and drug offenses on public streets and squares generate a great deal of public interest, making the population insecure and anxious. Safety and the feeling of safety in the region are very important for people's quality of life.
No no-go areas
Although there are no no-go areas or so-called lawless areas in the area of responsibility of the Rhein-Sieg district police where groups of criminals rule and harass residents, the Rhein-Sieg police have identified areas where citizens feel uncomfortable and unsafe. The reasons for these feelings and fears on the part of citizens often cannot be objectified using crime statistics. On the contrary, the area covered by the Rhein-Sieg district police authority has been one of the safest regions in NRW for years. The statistical crime figures from the district police authority tend to suggest that the risk of becoming a victim of crime (1.3 cases per 1,000 inhabitants) is very low.
Nevertheless, there are these so-called "areas of fear", which the police have identified and analyzed through exchanges with citizens and local authorities. These areas are located in parks, at train stations and also in city centers. For Siegburg, the focus is on the area around the Michaelsberg and the area around the train station. However, as in Troisdorf, the entire city center was included in the presence concept.
The police take people's sense of security very seriously. The police are responding to citizens' justified need for security by increasing their presence in public spaces, among other things. It is not uncommon for the mere visible presence of police to convey a sense of security. Special presence concepts have been developed for areas designated as "areas of fear". Citizens will see more uniformed officers on the streets, taking consistent action against criminals.