Martin kuhn from hammelburg takes many positive experiences and human encounters with him: for six months, the 39-year-old was head of the hammelburg police department (PI). “There is also a lot of melancholy involved”, he says goodbye. Coming monday, 2. March, his successor christian portner is officially appointed head of the hammelburg police, martin kuhn returns to the police prasidium in wurzburg.
For kitzinger, heading the hammelburg police department was a stopover on his way to the higher service. In 2000, martin kuhn began his career as a mid-level officer with the police in eichstatt. After stations in swabia and sulzbach-rosenberg, he returned to lower franconia in 2006: first to aschaffenburg, and from 2009 at the operations center in wurzburg. It was there that he first encountered the name christian portner, who had helped set up the operations center before him.
From ochsenfurt to the saale
Within the framework of personnel development, martin kuhn worked in the press office of the police prasidium on the one hand, and was deputy head of the ochsenfurt police department for one year on the other hand. From there it went on 1. September as head of department in hammelburg. “The rooms here in the red castle are one of the nicest service centers in the region,” says its chairman, he was impressed from the start. He had already contacted his predecessor alfons hausmann in july.
The start went differently than planned: at the end of august, a series of fires in hammelburg’s old town unsettled many residents. “That was naturally a focus at the beginning”, kuhn remembers. In cooperation with the criminal police, there were interviews with neighbors and finally a house search of a suspect. “I was very confident that the danger had been averted”, reports kuhn. And he was right: there were no further fires. However, the case is still not closed for the police: “the evaluation of the traces is still ongoing”, kuhn also waits for evidence from the state criminal investigation office.
Focus on drug-related offenses
Kuhn has been spared spectacular criminal cases in his own time as head of the department. “We have a high level of security here in the protected area”, the 39-year-old points to few crimes and a high clearance rate. One of his main focuses was drug-related crime, reports kuhn. He has initiated more operations and above all more prevention. At the secondary school there have already been lectures in the 8th grade. There have been several cases of drug-related crime in the first two grades, and they are still to come in the middle school and high school. “We have more attacks by young people”, he reports from the statistics of PI. The most widespread in the region is still cannabis, but also amphetamines were found again and again.
Exchange with authorities
In the internal processes, it was important to him to improve the flow of information in the department. However, he said, there has also been very good cooperation and networking so far. As an example, he reports on the clearing up of a bicycle theft from a garage: together with the investigation team, the patrol secured traces that actually matched the DNA of a perpetrator active beyond the region. He says he has taken a lot away from his leadership role, for example when he suggested increased traffic controls: “it was a good experience to see that the team accepts it in the same way”, martin kuhn praises all employees of the hammelburg police department. A “very close relationship the outgoing police chief also attests to all partners in the region: the exchange with the city and the district office as well as the nine mayors in the area of responsibility has functioned smoothly. During kuhn”s time, there were agreements with the federal armed forces on how to proceed during police operations on the stockpile.
The handover to christian portner will be kuhn”s last official act in hammelburg. After a few months at the police headquarters, the father of two will have to go back to school in october: preparation for higher service is on the agenda.