Campaign for a solidary community without racist controls

Motivation for launching our campaign: The police comission „Sonderkommission Innenstadt“

Since October 2024, the “Sonderkommission Innenstadt“ (Special Commission for the City Center, „SoKo“ for short), consisting of 13 police officers, has been active in Bielefeld’s city center. By patrolling and conducting controls several times a day on Kesselbrink, at the central station, and in other parts of the city center, it aims to increase the sense of security among Bielefeld’s residents. The question is, whose security? According to director Lars Lorenz, “they want to significantly downsize the scenes” and therefore “make full use of all constitutional means, from criminal law to immigration law.” The goal is to get on people’s nerves and send the message: “The police are watching you.” Lorenz himself admits that such operations do not increase actual security, but they do increase the number of cases in crime statistics.

Sources: Heinze, Jens: Soko Innenstadt. Westfalen-Blatt 17.10.2024 | Köhler, Oliver: Kriminalitätsanstieg. Lokalzeit OWL, 18.10.2024

Harassment and displacement

For anyone who regularly spends time at Kesselbrink or other locations targeted by the SoKo, the SoKo’s work means constant controls, searches, and harassment. These almost always affect non-white people, people with addictions, and homeless people.

The SoKo frequently issues area bans („Platzverweise“), which we particularly criticize. These are a direct form of displacement: people who are considered undesirable are excluded from public spaces by area bans, instead of addressing the social causes of their situation. This does not solve the problem, but merely shifts it—out of sight of the ‚majority‘ society, away from the cityscape. Restraining orders do not ensure safety, but exclude people from public life and shift social problems to other places.

What threatens our safety—and thus the safety of Bielefeld’s residents—is the SoKo itself!

Our goals

We believe that social problems such as addiction, poverty, and homelessness cannot be solved by the police. That is why we are giving the acronym SoKo a new meaning: Solidarity without controls! („Solidarisch ohne Kontrollen“)

The central aim of this campaign is to engage with the public in Bielefeld, ask critical questions, formulate alternative solutions, and put them into practice.

In particular, we want to make Kesselbrink a place without racist controls, where our safety also plays a role. Instead of criminalizing people, we need places where we can meet, support each other, and enjoy spending time!

We want to spend time together outside without being constantly controlled.