| Project period |
2000 – 2003
| Project staff |
PD Dr. Thomas Ohlemacher (Project manager)
Arne Rüger, Dipl.Soz.
Gaby Schacht, Juristin
| Funding |
Innenministerkonferenz der Länder
Gewerkschaft der Polizei
Eigenmittel des KFN
| Project description |
There were eight fatal attacks on police officers in Germany in 2000. Is this large number indicative of a trend towards ‘American’ conditions? What operational situations do attacks against police officers occur in and what form do they take? How do police officers who have survived an attack describe what happened? What do they think can be changed so that they are better protected from attack? These and other questions were analysed from a criminological and sociological perspective in a study by the Criminological Research Institute of Lower Saxony (KFN) covering severe attacks from the years 1985 to 2000. The study was based on the recounted experience of over 1,000 police officers questioned in a survey. Further points of focus included the judicial follow-up of attacks on police officers with intent or design to kill, and the experience and demands of surviving dependants of the police officers killed. The project had an interdisciplinary team including staff from KFN and from the Faculty of Police at the Lower Saxony University of Applied Sciences for Administration and Law.