After many years of a continuous decline in crime in Dortmund, with a peak in 2015 with a total of 83,586 crimes and a low of the last 30 years in 2021 with 55,206 crimes (a decline of 34%), we have seen an increase in crime again since the end of the pandemic. Nevertheless, at 73,209 crimes in 2024, we were still 12.5% below the peak in 2015.
Bundle of measures - current decline in overall crime rate recognizable
The Dortmund police have responded to this post-pandemic increase in recent years with a whole bundle of measures. Following a significant increase of 12% in 2023, these measures have slowed down a further rise in overall crime. While there was still a slight increase from 2023 to 2024, an evaluation of the statistical data for the first half of 2025 has already led to a decline in crime figures of around 5%, which is reflected in particular in street crime and robbery, which experience has shown to have a particularly negative impact on citizens' sense of security.
In the case of robberies, which are often accompanied by armed violence, there are signs of a decline of around 10%, while a downward trend of around 13% can currently be seen in street crime.
With regard to violent crime overall, a look at the number of cases in the first half of 2025 still shows a slight increase in the low single-digit range compared to the same period in 2024. Reason enough for Dortmund police to focus on this once again. On October 1, a new "violent crime unit" will be launched.
New violent crime unit
"I am convinced," says Police President Gregor Lange, "that this step will pay off. Thanks to this new police department, we will be able to identify many crime contexts even better, tackle repeat offenders even more consistently and work even more closely with the public prosecutor's office."
The Dortmund Police Headquarters intends to launch a violence protection department on 1 October 2025. The Chief of Police has submitted a corresponding application to the NRW Ministry of the Interior. This is a clear signal that the Dortmund police are sending out to the people in their area of responsibility - at a time when conflicts are often not only fought out with words, but also with violence and dangerous objects.
"The people here have a right to expect us to use all police strategies and resources. The safety of all Dortmund residents is our top priority. We are aware of people's concerns and we are taking action!" said the police chief.
From October 1, all violent crimes will therefore end up in this police department, where they can be processed together. This step should make it easier in future, for example, to identify a series of crimes, as violent offenders naturally do not stick to police inspection boundaries. It will also enable the officers responsible to specialize even better in this area of crime and expand their knowledge in a much more targeted manner. A concept that has already been a guarantee of success in other areas of crime prevention, such as the establishment of the Soko Rechts in 2015.
In this case, close cooperation with the special public prosecutor's office set up by the Dortmund public prosecutor's office for the area of violence is also particularly important. This means that the investigators from the new Criminal Investigation Department can initiate their measures in an even more targeted manner with a direct contact person than before - the police and public prosecutor's office act decisively and together.
Attempts by the right-wing scene to recruit young people - state security pulls out all the stops
The "EK Jungnationale" (Young Nationals Investigation Unit) starts its work just one month before the Violence Investigation Department is set up, i.e. on September 1. Like the Soko Rechts, which has been in existence for over ten years, it is dedicated to the fight against right-wing extremism in a very specific context. The focus here is primarily on attempts by neo-Nazis to approach young people in Dortmund. This is a state and nationwide trend that the Dortmund police are countering with prevention and repression in their area of responsibility. The "EK Jungnationale", part of the authority's state security unit, is the appropriate tool for this.
When the so-called "open evenings" of the right-wing scene began in Dortmund-Dorstfeld over a year ago, the Dortmund police were on the spot and took important measures in the fight against the recruitment attempts that right-wing extremists wanted to accomplish with excursions, martial arts training, social media work or supra-regional networking.
"Our strategic search from May to November 2024 has already provided us with a massive amount of information. We know very well which young people have gone there and are deliberately countering these developments with extremely high pressure. And I'm sure that the right-wing scene in Dortmund - or rather what's left of it - is also aware of this," says Police Chief Gregor Lange (see also: https://www.presseportal.de/blaulicht/pm/4971/6003835).
Numerous preventative measures, such as prompt risk assessments involving parents and guardians, the submission of offers of help or case conferences with the youth welfare office since June 2025, are flanked by cooperation with schools and the "Kurve kriegen" ("Turning the corner") project. Discussions with the legal guardians of the young people encountered at the open evenings or meetings in particular revealed that they had no knowledge of the activities of their underage charges. In most cases, this resulted in an intensive and very detailed coordination and information process, which in many cases led to the young people staying away from the events.
In addition to the establishment of the EK Jungnationale, the Dortmund police are expanding their existing concepts for combating violent and street crime, particularly with the introduction of the new "Violence" crime squad.
"Over the past two years, we have developed a whole raft of measures to get violent criminals off the streets," said Police Chief Gregor Lange, outlining the expansion of the security concept.
In conjunction with the existing concepts, Dortmund police want to ensure maximum effectiveness in the fight against violent and street crime.
For more security in the city - presence concept focus, close cooperation with the city
In July 2023, Dortmund Police Headquarters was assigned additional officers by the Ministry of the Interior of North Rhine-Westphalia. Since then, the cross-directorate presence concept Fokus (PK Fokus) has been used to permanently maintain the control pressure in Dortmund's city center and Nordstadt with the increased presence of uniformed police officers and the deployment of civilian police officers. The aim of all this: To increase the safety and sense of security of citizens, take decisive action against criminals and reduce the number of cases in the city! As in many other areas, the Dortmund police are working very closely on this concept in a special task force formed with the City of Dortmund.
In total, the Dortmund police have initiated over 54,000 additional criminal proceedings since July 2023 with an investment of 47,000 personnel hours. Of these, 6,109 criminal offenses can be attributed to assault and 2,133 to robbery. In 547 operations carried out to date, the police have seized 2,166 objects, 223 of which were knives, weapons or weapon-like objects.
For the current calendar year 2025, the police have already invested almost 12,000 man-hours in 160 priority operations as part of the PK Fokus up to June, initiating 8,516 additional criminal proceedings (1,274 assault offenses/ 1,705 robbery offenses). In addition, the officers have so far carried out 75 custodial interventions in the city center and Nordstadt and executed 55 arrest warrants. A total of 714 items have been seized or confiscated in the operations to date (75 knives, weapons or weapon-like items).
Police Commissioner Gregor Lange is particularly concerned about the increased number of knives being carried: "We are noticing that knives are increasingly becoming standard equipment for certain groups of people and are part of the basic equipment alongside cell phones, keys and wallets. This is a very worrying development. Anyone who is prepared to pack a knife quickly crosses the inhibition threshold to use it."
Task force against knife crime
In order to counteract this trend, the Dortmund police chief set up a task force to combat knife crime in April 2024 and ordered the first bans on carrying knives for a certain group of people in May. The group of people targeted by the measure, which is based on the Police Act, includes known criminals for whom facts justify the assumption that they pose a specific threat to public safety through the repeated threat or use of weapons and dangerous objects. The bans on carrying weapons are deliberately not sent by post, but are handed out personally to those affected by the respective district officers in order to combine the handover of the bans with a risk assessment and, particularly in the case of minors, to make their legal guardians responsible.
The ban on carrying weapons is initially limited to three years. If a person with such a ban is found carrying a knife or similar, a fine of 250 euros will be imposed. In the event of a repeated violation, the fine increases to 500 euros. Further violations may ultimately result in enforced imprisonment. As of July 2025, 192 bans on carrying knives have been issued in the area of responsibility of Dortmund police. Since the introduction of these bans, 44 violations of the order have been detected by police officers. During the control operations, 138 people were also encountered against whom a prohibition order had been issued, but who were not carrying a knife or other dangerous object at the time of the control.
The case law now available from the Higher Administrative Court of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia has confirmed the legality of comparable police prohibition orders in individual cases.
With regard to crimes in which a knife was used, an initial decline in the numbers can be predicted since the measures to ban the carrying of knives were introduced.
"We are just getting the first indications that our measures could be having an effect. Crimes in which knives were used are showing a downward trend. I am very pleased about that. It shows how important it is to react very quickly to problems. I am sure that we are on the right track. We will continue in the same way and I expect this positive trend to continue," said Police President Gregor Lange.
Strong networks for prevention
In order to further strengthen the preventative approach of this concept, Dortmund Police Headquarters is implementing a further component. In order to ensure that awareness of the dangers of knives and the associated measures achieve the greatest possible reach, the competence center "Dialogue and promoting trust with a diverse society", which was set up in August 2024 in the Dortmund police headquarters, has informed the Dortmund police's network and cooperation partners in various formats on this topic.
"Effective prevention requires good networks. Cooperation is also essential in the fight against knife crime," said the police president.
With the new competence center, Dortmund Police Headquarters is implementing a new focus for the authorities. Immediately after the operation on 8 August 2022, Chief Constable Gregor Lange set up the "Dialogue" working group with the task of examining the existing formats for talking to citizens, associations and committees and, above all, developing new forms of dialogue with the people of Nordstadt. Several social institutions and numerous migrant self-organizations - mainly from Nordstadt - are involved in this process. This collaboration has now been consolidated through a jointly signed cooperation agreement.
For comprehensive information on this collaboration, including the cooperation agreement, please see the following links: https://www.presseportal.de/blaulicht/pm/4971/5795656
As a measure to consolidate this process, Chief Constable Gregor Lange established the "Dialogue and Trust Promotion with a Diverse Society" competence center at Dortmund Police Headquarters on 1 August 2024 as part of a reorganization. The corresponding application had been submitted to the NRW Ministry of the Interior. In addition, the police have already set "Dialogue and promoting trust with a diverse society" as a strategic goal and priority task for the year 2024, which is also anchored in the security programme for the year 2025.
Further information on this organizational change and the strategic objective can be found at the following link: https://www.presseportal.de/blaulicht/pm/4971/6003364
Part of the overall concept: strategic manhunts and video surveillance
The comparatively new concepts of the PK Fokus and the knife carry ban orders are of course complemented by tried-and-tested packages of measures such as strategic manhunts and video surveillance, which the police continuously draw on.
Strategic searches in accordance with the Police Act are reviewed at regular intervals to ensure they are proportionate and are ordered by the Chief Constable for a specific area. The measure is currently being carried out in the city center and Nordstadt.
Since 2016, Dortmund police have also been using video surveillance. There are currently four active observation measures in the Dortmund city area: In Brückstraße, Münsterstraße and Dietrich-Keuning-Park and, since March 2025, also in the southern area of the main railway station. The legal basis for these police measures is Section 15a of the NRW Police Act. According to this, the police can collect data in the form of video images for the prevention of criminal offenses through open video surveillance, i.e. video surveillance that can be viewed by anyone. The order by the Chief Constable is linked to clear, fundamental requirements. For example, crimes must have been committed repeatedly at these locations in the past and the local conditions must be conducive to the commission of crimes. They must also be clearly different from other comparable locations.
In the past, crimes committed at locations with permanently installed cameras have been successfully solved time and again thanks to the video surveillance set up.
"Each individual measure is an indispensable building block in our overall concept. We are working hard every day to ensure a safe city for the citizens of Dortmund. Even if there is no such thing as one hundred percent security, we want to create the best possible framework conditions," says Police Chief Gregor Lange about the security concept.
The fact that the overall concept is not only aimed at law enforcement measures is demonstrated by the 4,811 discussions with citizens held as part of the PK Fokus, in which officers took time to listen to citizens' fears, concerns, needs, but also their wishes and suggestions. With these discussions, the officers also want to create transparency for day-to-day police work.
"We are currently seeing a slightly positive trend in the development of crime. We can see that: Our new strategies and concepts are having an effect. That is why we will continue to implement them consistently," said the Dortmund police chief.