Cologne police are discouraged: unseen commitment, hardly results

One in ten Cologne detectives working on the case, but the outcome of their work is for the time being very modest. Suspects are difficult to identify, and it seems that only few will be tried. But political pressure is so great that the cost-benefit analysis does not matter. This was reported by Der Spiegel.

The alleged brothers Farouk and B. Abderrahmane arrived in recent weeks often targeted by the police. The asylum seekers came from Algeria since late November due to a fight, pick-pocketing and theft in touch with the investigators. One on New Year's night in the Cologne stolen mobile station brought them behind bars. The device was stolen, according to the prosecutor of a 54-year-old woman who was sexually assaulted.

30 suspects
The alleged brothers B. - the researchers are skeptical about the alleged relationship - the first of currently about 30 suspects, which can be undoubtedly related to the attacks on women. But convicted them far from.

"We hope that the statements of the suspects us forward," said an official.

Love Parade
The Cologne police took unprecedented extensive human and material. Germany has never made ​​such an effort for the prosecution of sexual offenses. No fewer than 120 officers working on the inquiry, more than a third after the disaster at the Love Parade in Duisburg in 2010, which left some 21 dead and 510 wounded.

Sebastian Fiedler, chairman of the Police Federation of North Rhine-Westphalia, explains: "Every tenth Cologne detective now working on the case, making the other work remains."

Symbolic assignment
The massive deployment of people and resources and the few research on the other hand provide resentment among many agents. They feel as sweeper to be used, they have a symbolic assignment is part of a political agenda but little impact brings to the dike.

Political pressure is enormous. Almost all suspects are asylum seekers. That led to a heated political debate and let the world fall the policy of Angela Merkel.

The rechercheus are expected to make the words of Justice Minister Heiko Maas hard.Which stated that all offenders will be identified and prosecuted. To date, more than a few pronounced suspended sentences.

Thousand casualties, thousands of witnesses
The commission is therefore immense. First need to question the researchers more than 1,000 people who claim to that night near the Cologne train station were victims of a crime.For nearly 500 goes among them to sexual offenses. In addition, according to experts, there are thousands of witnesses.

Looking cross-eyed
Today, 313 specially trained agents engaged uitvlooien recordings of surveillance cameras, unclear images and shaky videos made ​​with mobile phones. "We look cross-eyed here little by little," said one of them.

One of the problems is that the time stamp of the recordings often does not correspond to that night. This ensures a high degree of uncertainty. Often it is also hard to say where the photos were taken.

Experts consider it unlikely that the high number of cases will lead to as many convictions.The spokesman for the Cologne prosecutor's office says that it will be very difficult to attribute the crimes conclusively certain individuals.

Take the case of Issam D., who was arrested with bag on a paper on which were seditious slogans. "I have that piece of paper found on the floor. When the police checked me, they have found it in my pocket." That's his story. Any other story has to be proven

Source: Der Spiegel / Edited by: LB / © ap