On Thursday, Lord Mayor Peter Feldmann was able to receive high visitors in Frankfurt: Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier came to the Main metropolis together with his wife Elke Büdenbender. Here he met representatives of the police authorities, police officers and committed citizens for talks. The Federal President informed himself about issues of security, crime and prevention as well as living together in a large international city with many immigrants during a varied, all-day visit programme.
It is not the first time that the Federal President has paid a visit to Frankfurt. The Lord Mayor was particularly pleased about this: "The city of Frankfurt is very pleased about the renewed visit of our Federal President. His visit on the occasion of the awarding of the Bubis Prize is just as memorable to me as our conversation a few days ago about the development of our Paulskirche into a place of democracy and history that attracts nationwide attention. His visit is about the opportunities of an international Frankfurt. We in Frankfurt see our internationality as a necessary condition, on the basis of which a good part of our prosperity and trade rests. As a dynamic, international city that is growing and where more children are born every year, we are very happy to host him and it is an honour for me to welcome Frank-Walter Steinmeier to our new Old Town this afternoon as well."
The first stop on this visit took Steinmeier to police headquarters. Here, the focus was on the security situation in Frankfurt as well as the Haus des Jugendrechts project. And there was positive news to announce right away: The number of criminal offences has steadily decreased in the Main metropolis in recent years. "I am pleased to welcome you to the city, which is becoming safer and safer," said Mayor Feldmann during the briefing at the police station. In 2017, for example, the number of crimes was down 4.7 percent from the previous year. It thus reached the lowest level in 40 years. At the same time, the clearance rate rose by 3.2 percentage points to 64.2 percent.
The Houses of Juvenile Justice have played a significant role in this development. These follow the motto "Helping to educate before punishing". There are two facilities, in Höchst and in the north of Frankfurt. A third is being planned in the east of the city. The Houses of Juvenile Justice pursue the integrated approach of responding to criminally relevant behavior by children, youths and adolescents in a timely manner and with coordinated resources. The aim is to take account of the young people's life situation and in this way to prevent further delinquency. Strengthening prevention work as well as cooperation with other partners and concrete offers of help - for example addiction counselling - form a further focus of the work.
Mayor Feldmann used the example of the facility in the Mertonviertel to explain the distinctly preventive approach of this form of modern juvenile criminal justice. Five institutions work together on this: Police, public prosecutor's office, youth court assistance, victim-offender mediation and the association for child and youth welfare. Against the background of the educational idea anchored in juvenile criminal law, offers can be made to young people within a short time after a crime and solutions can be pointed out. "This is the right way and that is why I am grateful to the Federal President for drawing attention to this pioneering model for the whole of the Republic with his visit," emphasised the Lord Mayor.
The next stop on the Federal President's tight schedule was the Milena Girls' Office in Rödelheim. Here Steinmeier visited female employees as well as refugee women and girls who find support in this integration facility. He then hosted his coffee table in the city centre in the afternoon. Steinmeier discussed critical issues, open tasks and problems in Frankfurt and much more with his guests. The coffee table is a series of talks held by the head of state to get into conversation with different citizens at different locations. The invitees represent different, sometimes opposing positions on topics such as security or dealing with immigration. For more information, visit <link http: www.bundespraesident.de kaffeetafel _blank>Http://www.bundespraesident.de/Kaffeetafel
Finally, a guided tour of Frankfurt's new old town by district ambassadors of the Polytechnic Society Foundation and Lord Mayor Peter Feldmann was on the agenda. "I am delighted that the Federal President took the time to visit our new Old Town. I was happy to tell him about the great popularity and how the project came about. Without the broad discussion in the urban community, we would not have managed it. The result shows that our path was the right one," said Feldmann.
The Federal President and his wife took their leave after a varied and informative day in Frankfurt, which certainly did not mark the last visit of the head of state to our city. It became clear where Frankfurt is doing good, even exemplary work, but also where there are problems that need to be tackled
