Berlin Police Commander Barbara Slowik-Meisel remembers well her first New Year's Eve in office: the turn of 2018 and 2019. It was a “big action”, especially for the fire brigade. – But it has completely changed – he says during a conversation with journalists. Since September, the police have been intensively preparing for the new year. At the beginning of the year, all unit commanders who were on duty on the last New Year's Eve were gathered to draw conclusions from the escalation of events from previous years. Experienced police officers were to describe their experiences and propose changes in the concept of operation.
Their analysis was sobering: excessive use of pyrotechnics “with a growing lack of empathy”, a clear focus on children and young people, a significantly increased number of explosions and an increasing number of illegal, partly home-made pyrotechnics. The perpetrators acted “no matter the loss” — both for others and for ourselves.
In response, in September the police created the Central Bureau for Pyrotechnics, which is to cooperate with various authorities. The result: a significant amount of pyrotechnics secured in a short time. On the one hand, Slowik-Meisel is satisfied with what has been removed from the streets. On the other hand, there is concern about “what is left in circulation”.
So far, 49 preparatory proceedings have been initiated and 14 search warrants have been executed. The scale is significant: the services confiscated 147,000. pyrotechnic items, including almost 108 thousand belonging to particularly dangerous categories, which may only be ignited by qualified technicians. Frank Millert, head of one of the departments, informs about young people collecting pyrotechnic materials. Approximately 6.5 kg of explosives were found in one of the teenagers.
The motives are very diverse, says an experienced policeman. For example, one young man collected explosives just to produce extreme videos for social networks.
Behind the scenes of police activities
Millert also points to “extremely difficult jurisdictional issues” in Berlin. District offices are responsible for the sale of pyrotechnics in the German capital, and the police can only intervene as part of administrative assistance. All districts have been informed about the need to notify the services. In parallel, classic investigations were carried out, also using open sources on the Internet.
At the same time, they were significantly tightened preventive measures. This year, the police intend to apply it consistently preventive arrest lasting up to five days, especially in the case of persons who are detained with particularly dangerous pyrotechnic materials, for example self-made ones, or with large quantities thereof. In order to be able to enforce preventive detention in a lawful manner, a small team was trained, also drawing on previous experience. Last year, only a dozen people were actually imprisoned, partly because the relevant judges did not approve them.
Roman Seifert, head of the national police directorate, describes the efforts going on behind the scenes. This year alone, the services carried out approximately 400 preventive meetingswrote information letters, for example for parents' representatives in schools, in six languages, conducted 87 interviews with people posing a threat (116 in the previous year). In addition, there are social media campaigns, 1,200 posters and nightly special events.
According to Seifert, he now patrols the streets every night 150 additional officersand this number will be increased to 200. In total, the police have approximately 4,300 employees on duty, of which 3,300 are additional to the normal organization. This is approximately the number of officers who are on duty during the city's May 1 demonstration every year. Experienced police officers report that New Year's Eve has long overtaken operational activities related to May 1.
New Year's Eve in Berlin, December 31, 2024Joerg Carstensten / AFP
The city under the watchful eye of the services
Operationally, the police continue to focus on zones prohibiting the use of pyrotechnic materials — but with a different approach. Head of Operations Stephan Katte explains that lessons have been learned from the experience of recent years. Hermetically sealed areas are replaced by more dynamic operations: fewer fences, more mobile inspections, targeted bag checks, lighting in dark areas and flexible access units.
In key places, such as Alexanderplatz, excessive excesses must be prevented as early as possible. The assumption is that “New Year's Eve is not celebrated as a traveling tourist, but in your own neighborhood.” The perpetrators should therefore be detained and arrested on the spot.
Adding to the complexity is the official event at the Brandenburg Gate. PLN 20,000 was spent on it. tickets. At the same time, there is a second registration with approximately 16,000. participants at the Siegessaule column. Initially, it was reported that 100,000 people would take part in this event. people, but according to the police, insufficient security measures, medical assistance and protection were provided. There will be a buffer zone between both events. The use of pyrotechnic materials is completely prohibited there, and drone detection and access protection are also planned.
Slowik says almost all people want to celebrate peacefully, but a small, very problematic group needs to be dealt with “intensively.” The police keep an eye on the entire city – knowing that total control remains an illusion. The situation is made worse by the fact that sales of fireworks are increasing across the country. They are bought “as if there would never be another New Year's Eve”.
