Ordnungspartnerschaft Sicherheit im Oberbergischen Kreis

In 2017, District Administrator Jochen Hagt launched the security partnership. Since 2018, the district budget has earmarked 650,000 euros each year for the security partnership, funding additional staff, uniform uniforms and police-style service vehicles, among other things. The new law enforcement officers were prepared for their deployment for citizens with a specially created series of training courses on the necessary legal principles, self-protection techniques and de-escalating communication.

Since January 2018, the police-style "patrol cars" of the local public order offices have been a familiar sight on Oberberg's streets and, together with the police, ensure safety.

Joint performance of tasks by public order offices and police

"However, the security partnership does not involve a transfer of tasks from the police to local law enforcement agencies," emphasizes District Administrator Jochen Hagt. "The local law enforcement authorities are responsible for averting danger as an inherent duty; the security partnership therefore represents cooperation in the performance of tasks." Joint patrols by the police and public order offices as well as joint priority operations, for example at carnivals or city festivals, are evidence of this mutual assumption of duties.

Presence shows effect

"With the law and order partnership, we want to jointly strengthen the objective safety and subjective sense of security of the population," explained District Administrator Jochen Hagt, explaining the preventative approach at the presentation of the municipalities' new service vehicles in 2018.

This preventative approach seems to be working - robberies and assaults in public spaces, which have a particularly negative impact on citizens' sense of security, have decreased significantly in some cases since the launch of the security partnership.

But cooperation with the municipalities has also proven to be very useful in combating traffic accidents. "The presence of municipal vehicles alone has a significant speed-reducing effect," said Joachim Höller, Head of the Traffic Directorate, at the presentation of the traffic accident statistics in spring 2020.