Reports on social media that strangers are allegedly approaching children in front of schools and tempting them with sweets are unsettling parents and possibly making police work more difficult. “It’s building up. Sometimes one case mistakenly turns into several. Talking to someone becomes shouting at them or pulling them into their car,” says Dirk Heitmann from the police station in Celle in Lower Saxony.
The police in Nuremberg had similar experiences. The parents alerted each other via social media, and the location of the event could change, says Chief Inspector Martin Richter. According to the police in the Oberberg district in North Rhine-Westphalia, many people read the warnings and suddenly see danger everywhere. As a result, the phones at the police station are no longer silent.
“That makes our work more difficult because it ties up capacity to also follow up on phantom reports,” emphasizes Richter. In addition, it is sometimes hardly possible for the investigators to track where there is actually an accumulation of cases.
Press release on incidents in Nuremberg Celle police on suspicious approach to children Oberbergischer district police on suspicious approach to children BZgA portal “Trust yourself!”
