Statement: Reporting on refugee accommodation in Konz

The Konz municipal administration refers to the reporting by the Trierischer Volksfreund: “Drugs and conflict? Security guards should ensure peace and quiet in the Konzer collective accommodation.”

So far there have been very few conflicts in the accommodation mentioned on Roscheider Straße. In the past 15 months, the police registered five cases of bodily harm, which the authorities consider to be a very low level of crime for a refugee accommodation. There were also no cases of drug trafficking; There was only suspicion of drug or cannabis use. The accommodation is in no way a drug and crime hotspot.

The Konz municipality administration would now like to prevent possible negative developments. The main concern, however, is not drug use and certainly not drug trafficking, but rather increasing conflict potential . Due to the lack of accommodation options at the district, state and federal level, the multiple occupancy is likely to last longer. As a result, residents have no opportunity to retreat and live in groups of three, sometimes four, in a room. Conflicts arise more easily in such a small space than in normally occupied accommodation. Therefore, VG Konz would like to set up a security service - during times when our social workers are not on site and when the police station in Konz is not manned. The use of such services has long been common in AfAs or larger accommodations, because the more people live together as a mixed group, the higher the potential for arguments.

The deployment of the new staff ensures that residents always have a contact person. Social control can thus be ensured at all times.

Apart from that, the reinforcement on site should also help to create greater awareness about littering. Concrete example: Residents of the accommodation sometimes want to beautify their rooms. To do this, they sometimes take pieces of furniture that have been left on a street for bulky waste. If the piece of furniture does not fit in the room, it will be placed in front of the accommodation. Other citizens then obviously think: the bulky waste is coming! – and add other items. This problem could be tackled at the root with round-the-clock presence.

When security personnel can be deployed in the collective accommodation depends on the outcome of the tender, which is due to begin soon.