They are still very young and have already committed several crimes: In this case, three participants from the Steinfurt district. We'll come back to them in a moment.
What is the "Kurve kriegen" initiative all about?
It's often a vicious circle that paves the way for a career as a prolific offender. One crime leads to another, the circle of friends changes and the buddies are also criminals. In these circles, it's cool to get into trouble with the police. In order to break this vicious circle, the Steinfurt district police authority has been actively involved in the NRW initiative "Kurve kriegen" for a good two and a half years. Here, experienced criminal investigators work together with highly trained educational specialists in order to sustainably correct the lives of children and young people who are at high risk of crime, to prevent crime in the long term and to help them take a legal path in life. In the district of Steinfurt, the Münsterland Protestant Youth Welfare Service is on board as the provider and employer of the educational specialists.
The biggest challenge for participants in the initiative: persevering
And that brings us back to the three participants mentioned at the beginning.
The most difficult thing on this path is not to give up. It's easier to drop out, to stop participating, to fall back into old behaviors, to simply not be in the mood. "But that's exactly what we want to prevent," says Jens Zipser, who works for the initiative here in the Steinfurt district together with Victoria vom Hagen as a pedagogical specialist. "The initiative is voluntary," continues Zipser, "and our work is also about creating incentives for the participants to stick with it. To give them experiences that show them that they can achieve something, that they have talents beyond criminal offenses. And sometimes celebrities also help us to do this. The initiative has already worked with Joey Kelly and is now working with Mickie Krause in the Steinfurt district. Incidentally, he is a passionate runner and so the joint project with him is naturally also characterized by this passion. The three young people want to complete a 5-kilometer run in September. To do this, they have to train regularly, concentrate on their goal and keep at it. They are now being supported by the well-known pop singer and entertainer Mickie Krause. He has taken on the patronage and is spurring the youngsters on.
Krause encourages the youngsters
During an interview at the start of this special training season, Krause told the three boys that he firmly believed in them. And he also has a reward in store for them: if they manage to persevere for the run in September, they will receive tickets for a performance by Mickie Krause in Dortmund's Westfalenhalle.
Of course, the educational experts of the initiative were also present at the kick-off meeting, as well as the two police experts Guido Wilke and Johanna Raue, who both work in the "Crime Prevention/Victim Protection" police department in the district of Steinfurt and are responsible for implementing the initiative there.
More information on the initiative:
Photo above (from left to right): "Kurve kriegen" participants (pixelated), Jens Zipser and Victoria vom Hagen (both Protestant Youth Welfare), Guido Wilke (Crime Prevention Police Steinfurt), Karin Beck-mann (Managing Director Protestant Youth Welfare), singer and entertainer Mickie Krause, Johanna Raue (Crime Prevention Police Steinfurt) and two other "Kurve kriegen" participants (pixelated)