Germany faces spike in crimes against Police and Railway staff

The number of crimes against federal police officers and railway employees has steadily increased in recent years and is approaching a new record. This is according to the Federal Ministry of the Interior's response to a parliamentary question from the Left Party in the Bundestag, which was made available to the AFP news agency on Saturday. According to the report, the number of crimes against federal police officers rose from 8,125 in 2022 to 10,726 in 2024.

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The most common offenses were acts of resistance, physical attacks, and threats. According to the data, 3,879 crimes against Federal Police officers were already registered in the first four months of the current year. This would be 11,637 for the entire year. The German editorial network (RND) was the first to report on the Left Party's inquiry.

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Also surveyed were crimes against Deutsche Bahn employees. These have increased significantly in recent years: from 2,799 in 2022 to 3,151 in 2024. The most frequently reported offenses were assault, dangerous bodily harm, and threats.

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According to the Interior Ministry, 1,244 such offenses were recorded from January to April of this year. Extrapolated over the year, that would be 3,732 offenses. Left Party MP Dietmar Bartsch told the RND: "Although almost 14,000 crimes were committed against railway employees and federal police officers last year, the first few months of the year point to another sad record. Unfortunately, more and more people see railway employees and police officers as the nation's whipping boys."

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Bartsch spoke of an "unacceptable" lack of inhibition. The Left Party MP demanded that Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) present a plan for reducing the far too numerous crimes.