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In North Rhine-Westphalia, responsibility for investigations changes in cases of child sexual abuse. “The protection of children is our top priority,” said North Rhine-Westphalia Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) of the German Press Agency. “So it is only logical to bundle the investigations in our police headquarters at the criminal headquarters.”
As of next Tuesday (September 1st), only the 16 so-called criminal headquarters will be responsible. “We treat these crimes with the same high level of organizational importance as murder and manslaughter,” said Reul.
“Child abuse is a terrible crime and it takes a lot of work for the police to investigate. It is all the more important to coordinate the process as well as possible. This is exactly what we are doing now as a consequence of our analysis from last year. “
Responsibility for all other sexual offenses remains with all district police authorities, according to the Interior Ministry. “To me, sexual abuse is like murder. This ends the lives of children – not physically, but psychologically, ”Reul said.
The 16 main crime stations are the police headquarters in Aachen, Bielefeld, Bochum, Bonn, Dortmund, Düsseldorf, Duisburg, Essen, Gelsenkirchen, Hagen, Cologne, Krefeld, Mönchengladbach, Münster, Recklinghausen and Wuppertal. (dpa / lnw)
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