Luxembourg City Mayor Lydie Polfer (DP) says she wants to expand the pilot police locale scheme that was launched a year ago in the capital city.
“It would be better if even more police officers were part of this unit. This is our express wish,” Polfer told journalists at the monthly City Breakfast press briefing Wednesday. The mayor said that the feedback on the scheme had been consistently positive.
Patrick Even, the police force’s regional director for the capital city, was confident about the future of the scheme. “I can imagine that the resources will be increased in the coming years,” he said. Currently 20 officers from stations all over the capital belong to the local unit. They carry out foot patrols of the city from Monday to Saturday between 6:00 and 22:00.
Polfer and Even hold weekly meetings during which they discuss the areas of the city where more police presence are required. “These are mainly the upper town, the railway station district and Bonnevoie. When the police show up, we generally notice that [criminals] move on. We then respond to this,” Even explained.
Such a shift has been observed, for example, as far as Stäreplaz and the funicular in Kirchberg. Free public transport plays its part in criminals being able to move more, the authorities confirmed. In general, many offences relating to drug-related crime and pickpocketing have been recorded.
Polfer also reported a recurring problem at Place du Théâtre, where groups of people who have consumed too much alcohol often disturb the peace. The mayor argued that a plan to strengthen the so-called Platzverweis legislation, allowing the police to ban individuals for 48 hours from entering a radius of one kilometre of the spot from which they have been removed for disturbing the peace, would be helpful in tackling these cases.
Station area a focus
The Consultative Commission on Human Rights has criticised the planned extension of the Platzverweis law’s scope.
Patrick Even also confirmed that the area around Rue de la Fonderie and Rue de Strasbourg in the railway station district are one of the places that “are in our focus”.
The police locale pilot project, which has also been implemented in Esch-sur-Alzette and other cities, is to be given full legal status in the near future.
Until then, however, Even confirmed that officers from the capital city unit will be patrolling the Schueberfouer on the Glacis from 22 August to 10 September.
(This article was first published by Luxemburger Wort. Machine translated and edited by Duncan Roberts.)