The Federal Police found more than 23,000 violent crimes at German train stations and on trains last year. Not only the train stations of the megacities are badly affected – a look at Franconia.
Nuremberg/Berlin (dpa/lby) – Nuremberg Central Station is not one of the ten train stations in Germany with the most travelers and visitors – but there was a comparatively high level of crime there last year. As can be seen from a response from the federal government to a request from the AfD parliamentary group, in 2022 the main train station was one of three stations where the federal police recorded the most sexual offences, violent crimes and property crimes. Exact figures for the individual stations were not given.
“Nuremberg Central Station is a main traffic junction, not only for normal road traffic, but also for local and long-distance public transport,” said the police union in Bavaria on Wednesday. “The central bus station is also in the immediate vicinity, from which countless buses and passengers travel in all directions every day.” These include travel destinations that are known for drug trafficking, for example.
The state chairman of the union, Peter Pytlik, advocated further expanding the existing video surveillance in public spaces – visible to everyone. “Experience has shown that such facilities have a deterrent effect. Should criminal offenses occur, video surveillance is a very successful means of uncovering any crimes.”
But according to the information, there was not only a noticeable amount of crime at Nuremberg Central Station in 2022: More weapon offenses and crimes related to drugs were registered at Dortmund Central Station in the same period than at any other German long-distance train station. According to the federal government, the Düsseldorf main station is also one of the stations with the highest loads in these two categories of crime. According to the Federal Police, more than 23,000 violent crimes were committed at German train stations and on trains in 2022.
The information on crime at train stations comes from the police entry statistics of the Federal Police, so they differ from the data from the police crime statistics, which are collected after the police investigations have been completed. The frequency of controls at the respective train station also has an influence on the number of offenses detected.
