Offenbach is becoming safer: Hessian Minister of the Interior Roman Poseck praises city center offensive
14.04.2025 – Crime in Offenbach has fallen significantly. Almost 1,700 fewer crimes were registered last year and street crime fell by more than 20 percent. The number of street thefts also fell by 29 percent. Juvenile crime is now below 1,000 cases. "One reason for this positive development is the close cooperation between the city and state police and the Offenbach authorities. For two years now, Offenbach has had daily joint security patrols - six hours a day. The results show: The joint presence on the streets is paying off," explains Paul-Gerhard Weiß, Head of Public Order. The Hessian Minister of the Interior, Roman Poseck, also praised the results of the cooperation during a visit to Offenbach's city center.
The Minister of the Interior accompanied representatives from the state, the city and the South-East Hesse police to checks in Geleitsstraße, which were carried out by the state police and Offenbach's public order office. On average, a control measure is carried out in this street about every six weeks. Due to the frequent changes of operator and the formation of clans, the investigators regularly detect administrative offenses there and in the neighboring streets. "The results of the priority checks show how important our approach is - and that we must not let up. This is the only way we can curb the situation in future," explains Frank Weber, head of the public order office.
During the successful operation on Wednesday, the officers checked around 45 people. In addition to a kilogram of marijuana and hashish, a pepper gun was also seized. A large number of commercial offenses were also detected. Administrative offenses amounting to around 8,000 euros are expected.
Results of the city center offensive
Since the start of the city center offensive in February 2024, the control pressure has been increased. Checks were mainly carried out in restaurants, betting shops and kiosks. "Illegal gambling generally seems to be on the rise. This is a problem for gambling addicts and also for the state, which is presumably losing millions in tax revenue as a result. To combat this, we have stepped up our activities here, together with the state police, the tax investigation department of the tax office and our treasury. The results show that we are on the right track here," emphasizes Weber.
A total of 2157 hours of joint patrols were carried out last year. Almost 14% of the time was spent on foot patrols in the pedestrian zone, the market square, the local S-Bahn station and the weekly market. For citizens, on the other hand, this means 28% fewer street robberies and more than 10% fewer pickpocketing offenses. "We have continuously developed the security structure in Offenbach in recent years, whether in terms of prevention or specific measures to combat disorder. In this respect, I am particularly pleased that the crime figures in Offenbach have fallen drastically and that the Minister of the Interior also attributes this to the close cooperation with us and the existing structures in Offenbach," Weber continued.
Cooperation with a long tradition in Offenbach
The close cooperation between our public order office and the state police has a long tradition, both in terms of prevention and averting danger. This includes, for example, the establishment of a municipal structure for prevention since 2001 with round tables or the regular "Wednesday round table" meetings between the state police and the public order office with the city police.
In April 2020, the public order office introduced 24/7 service for the municipal police, and since April 2023, a task force has been supplementing the daytime shift operation with special services such as school route safety. Since then, the start and end of duty times have been the same for the municipal and regional police, which facilitates cooperation. The traffic police force was already increased from 12 to 16 people in 2021.
After the failure of the joint city police station in 2022, the Offenbach police directorate developed a "Cooperation between the Offenbach police directorate and the Offenbach city police" concept together with the public order office on behalf of the police president and the mayor. The concept came into force two years ago and is evaluated monthly by the heads of the Police Directorate and the Public Order Office.
Another instrument that led to the results is the city's video surveillance systems. In 2024 alone, the video recordings at Europaplatz, Marktplatz, Hermann-Steinhäuser-Straße and Offenbach Waldhof S-Bahn station were used in over 150 investigations. Around 30 crimes were solved as a result.
Expansion of the security structure
The use of bodycams for the self-protection of city police employees is planned for this year. "Bodycams offer more security and can have a de-escalating effect in critical situations," explains Weber and adds: "Together with other Hessian public order offices, we had campaigned with the Hessian Association of Cities and Towns for a legal authorization that would enable us to equip our municipal police accordingly." The Hessian state parliament has now created the legal basis for this and Interior Minister Poseck welcomes this step. "City centers are places where people meet, and quality of life and quality of stay are very important to us here in Offenbach. It is also important that people feel safe there. We are on the right track and our employees are doing an excellent job with their colleagues from the state police," Weiß concludes.