In addition to its repressive and preventive duties, the police are also responsible for helping victims of crime, accidents and traffic accidents. Victims are primarily injured parties and those directly affected, but in individual cases also witnesses, whistleblowers, emergency responders, relatives or help and rescue services.
It is the task of the victim protection officer to ensure that every victim receives help, advice and support.
This includes:
- Adequate contact
- Information about victims' rights (Section 406h of the Code of Criminal Procedure)
- Information about the further course of the proceedings
- Information on and referral to offers of help
- Provision of information material
In order to ensure and maintain an adequate standard of police victim protection, the victim protection officers are involved in a wide range of internal and external tasks:
- Training measures for police officers
- Co-design of official orders and operational processes
- Provision of working materials
- Management of peer debriefers (support for police officers under mental stress due to deployment)
as well as
- Networking and committee work (e.g. round table against domestic violence)
- Cooperation with state and independent aid organizations
- Public relations work and projects
- Close cooperation with institutions and authorities:
- Rhineland Regional Association (Victim Compensation Act)
- Professional associations
- Trauma outpatient clinics
- Women's shelter, domestic violence intervention center
- Emergency counseling
- Social and psychiatric services
- Municipal offices (health department, social welfare office, road traffic office, registration authorities)
- WEISSER RING
Contact person
For all questions relating to victim protection, please contact:
Chief Inspector Christoph Voßwinkel
and
KHK'in Heike Jung
Phone 02104 982-1067
E-mail Opferschutz.Mettmann [at] polizei.nrw.de (Opferschutz[dot]Mettmann[at]polizei[dot]nrw[dot]de)