Changing jobs in the middle of a pandemic is not easy: You only get to know new colleagues with a mask, meetings take place in small groups, and there is no celebration of the start. In this situation, Chief Inspector Thomas Fricke starts his new job as deputy head of the police station in Marktheidenfeld. And with the fourth corona wave, he and his colleagues are facing a major challenge.
The 37-year-old will support department manager Stefan Schwind for six months as part of a funding process. Fricke was with the riot police and with the State Criminal Police Office, since 2011 he has been working in Lower Franconia. He has already worked for the motorway police in Biebelried, the criminal police in Würzburg and the offices in Schweinfurt and Ochsenfurt.
Soon on “patrol” in the city center
He is looking forward to the coming months in Marktheidenfeld, says Fricke in a press conference. “From my time in Ochsenfurt I know the work in a smaller office. That has its own charm, but also its own problems.”
His goal is to be consistent with criminals and at the same time close to the citizens; a policeman who is always happy to speak to ?? for example when he is on foot patrol in downtown Marktheidenfeld.
Proximity to the citizen and a sense of security, these are issues with which Fricke has dealt intensively: at the police headquarters in Würzburg, he was most recently a member of the project group “Security in Public Spaces”, which was looking for ways to strengthen people’s sense of security. Fricke explains it like this: “If there is a break-in in the neighborhood, everyone is worried – although the security situation is objectively very good.”
Fricke has already worked with the head of the department, Schwind, at a previous professional position, and he was also well received by the team. In Marktheidenfeld the atmosphere among the colleagues is very familiar, this reputation precedes the department, as Schwind and Fricke both confirm. “The team spirit is strong,” observed Fricke in the first few weeks here. “A gap in the duty roster is always closed quickly, so you have to make long calls elsewhere.”
Kleinfeller’s area will soon be the Autobahn
The handover with his predecessor Michael Kleinfeller also went very well, says Fricke. Kleinfeller, who has already worked in all four offices in Main-Spessart in his long career, will switch to the motorway police in Hösbach on December 1st. The “Verkehrsaorta A3” will then be his focus. Kleinfeller is then deputy head there too, but the office is almost twice as big as in Marktheidenfeld ?? that also means a lot more leadership work.
After more than five years, it is not easy for Kleinfeller to say goodbye to Marktheidenfeld. “When I go, I can look everyone here in the eye,” he says. At the farewell, Marktheidenfeld’s mayor Thomas Stamm and the member of the state parliament, Thorsten Schwab Kleinfeller, also expressed their appreciation. Stamm brought greetings and a “thank you” from the municipal public order office: “For me this is a sign that the cooperation has always worked,” interpreted Stamm. Schwab emphasized how much he values the direct line to the police and especially to Kleinfeller, also because Kleinfeller, as Lohr’s city councilor, also has insight into local politics.
He has always remained human, says Kleinfeller, looking back on his career, and he also advises his successor Fricke: “Show empathy and see people,” is his tip. Fricke will work in Marktheidenfeld until April, and in autumn he will begin a master’s degree, which will qualify him for a position as head of a medium-sized office, for example. It has not yet been decided who will follow him in Marktheidenfeld.
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