Instead of being in the police station, the new police director Dieter Egli greeted the media workers virtually in a Skype session. Together with Police Commander Michael Leupold and the heads of the Mobile Police, Stationed Police and Criminal Police Department, he looked back on the pandemic year 2020. This was formative for the cantonal police, said Commander Leupold at the beginning of the media conference.
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Small teams and internal contact tracing
The pandemic has affected the work of the police, both operationally and operationally. First and foremost, it was important to prevent the operational readiness from being jeopardized by failures: “We had to ensure that as few people as possible contract the virus in our home and that we can limit quarantine cases as tightly as possible. That is why we implemented drastic measures at the beginning of March », said Michael Leupold.
This was achieved by, among other things, forming small teams, installing protective devices in hearing rooms, or setting up internal contact tracing. Since the beginning of March, the heads of the respective departments have never been in the same room at the same time.
Corona brought new tasks for the canton police
The police officers were faced with new challenges because of Covid-19: “We had to enforce the measures and regulations that the Federal Council and Government Council have issued and monitor compliance with them. That was the case in the spring especially in public spaces, ”said Commander Leupold.
In total, more than 2500 fines were distributed in Aargau in 2020 because people had disregarded the Covid regulations in the spring: “It was almost exclusively about non-compliance with the five-person rule or the minimum distance,” said Heinz Meier, head of the stationed department Police. Fines were only distributed if warnings had no effect, explained Meier. Around 80 traders and 150 private individuals were also reported to the public prosecutor’s office because they did not want to accept a fine.
Domestic violence increased by 12 percent
The police statistics with the definitive figures for the past year will follow in March. However, some trends could be seen in the corona year. Sad but also positive: interventions due to domestic violence increased by 12 percent. In comparison: in previous years these increased by three to four percent. Here the canton police see a clear connection between the pandemic and the increase.
Historic low among road traffic victims
Corona was also noticeable on Aargauer Strassen: “We had significantly fewer accidents, injuries and road deaths,” said Commander Leupold. For the first time since 1970, the number of people who died on Aargauer Strassen is in the single digits. In 2020 eight people died in accidents, in the previous year there were eleven and in 2018 there were 16. In 1970 the number was 148.
The low number of accidents in 2020 is clearly due to the low traffic frequency during the lockdown. The police noted a significant decrease in accidents involving senior citizens. Here, too, it is suspected that the older road users adhered to the regulations in the context of the pandemic and took to the streets less.
Poser and Raser took advantage of the empty streets
At the same time, the corona pandemic had a negative impact on so-called speeder and poser offenses in Aargau: According to the canton police, these have increased significantly. The freer streets and the lack of leisure activities could be an explanation, said Rudolf Scherer, department head of the mobile police.
Especially in the spring, the emergency call center received many complaints due to noise emissions from roaring engines and loud exhausts. In 2020, the police confiscated more than 70 vehicles for technical inspection and identified 49 serious speeding offenses.
While traffic crimes increased, police noted a significant decrease in break-ins. This applies to both the residential and the business sector. “This is due on the one hand to the fact that people were more at home and on the other hand that the border was also closed in the spring,” said commandant Michael Leupold.
10 million Covid-19 loan fraud
The pandemic also brought new types of crime to light, such as the fraud in the granting of Covid-19 loans: “There has been generous credit for companies. People took advantage of the fact that the payout happened very quickly, ”said Leupold. By the end of the year, 48 criminal complaints had been received, and the amount of the offense should amount to over 10 million francs. The canton police assume several hundred such cases that they will deal with in the new year.
Many cases of cyber fraud were also found online in 2020. The fraudsters played with the fear of the pandemic and sold, among other things, alleged medical products against Corona.
Informers reported violations to the emergency call center
During the first lockdown in spring, when the bans mainly related to public spaces and school or sports facilities were closed, many people reported to the police to report violations. This trend has since declined again, said Leupold. The population’s understanding of the measures has developed differently: “Whenever the numbers increase and the measures are re-ordered, compliance is relatively good,” says Leupold. With the rising temperatures, the understanding decreased: “The understanding of the people for the bans on assembly and distance regulations at that time decreased strongly with every day on which the number of cases decreased and the temperatures rose.”
The budget of the canton police in Aargau is low
Like his predecessor Urs Hofmann, the new police director Dieter Egli spoke out in favor of strengthening the canton police force: “The expansion of the past few years is not enough.”
When compared across Switzerland, the Aargau canton police’s bus budget is very low at CHF 5 million. When asked whether the canton police were planning to increase this budget, Councilor Egli replied that this could not be the way to go: “The primary goal is not to collect fines, but to ensure security in Aargau.”
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