Sexual Harassment: AstA warns against calling police.
After repeated sexual harassment, ASTA warns against calling police for help. How the authority reacts.
Berlin. The General Students’ Committee (AStA) of Freie Universität Berlin (FU) warns in a circular email not only against a man who has repeatedly sexually harassed and threatened female students for some time, but also against calling the Berlin police if they come into contact with him. People who encounter him and feel harassed by him are strongly advised not to do so. Instead, they should first contact the university’s security service.
Alerting the police is also at the discretion of each individual, he said. “However, we would definitely like to point out that police operations for people affected by racism are fundamentally accompanied by an increased risk of experiencing police violence,” the AStA letter says. It is said to have been sent to the university groups and student council initiatives last week.
According to it the man is to have appeared for several weeks again and again at different places of the FU distributed over Dahlem and to have behaved opposite women sexist and assaulted. So far he has not been physically assaultive, but there have been threats of violence. He is said to have stalked one person for some time.
Also according to the FU, complaints about harassment continue to be made.
The FU confirms on request “that in the past there have been several complaints from university members about harassment on campus by a person not affiliated with the university”. This person has been banned from the campus and measures have been taken to ensure that this ban is observed.
For reasons of data protection, it is not possible to say whether this is the same person who was pictured in the AStA letter with a photo and named. The Berlin police confirmed a complaint because of an insult on sexual basis from December.
In the opinion of the AStA, the alleged racism is not the only reason that speaks against the police from their point of view. The officers are “not sufficiently trained in dealing with exceptional psychological situations,” the letter continues. Therefore, such operations are often “escalated by unnecessary use of force.” The concern is obviously less for the potential victim than for the perpetrator, since the latter is often in such an exceptional situation, as it says at another point in the text.
AStA recommends calling the social psychiatric service
As alternative to and clearly better option opposite the police the social psychiatric service is recommended. This can become active however only if the agreement of the person concerned is present, restrict the authors.
They leave open the extent to which they expect the suspected sex offender to give this consent. Elsewhere, however, they say that so far he has not shown any willingness to change his behavior. “Sometimes it is hardly possible to talk to him.”
Lack of understanding at the Berlin police
At the Berlin police one reacts with incomprehension to the theses of the AStA. “Advising victims of sexual violence not to press charges can have long-lasting consequences for the psyche of the person affected,” says spokeswoman Beate Ostertag. “The feeling of powerlessness and helplessness that comes from experiencing the crime can become entrenched.” In addition, she says, there are possibilities from danger prevention law to protect further victims from assault, if necessary.
Whether and, if so, what consequences the letter has for the AStA is unclear. One already took up contact in this thing to the university, explains Ostertag further.
Police union is shocked
The police union (GdP) is also shocked and says in response to an inquiry from the Berliner Morgenpost that it “would not have expected such anti-police lines from such an institution.” “Such a portrayal of the work of the Berlin police lacks any basis and reveals a peculiar understanding of democracy,” explains GdP regional head Stephan Weh.
“Whoever advises victims of sexual violence not to turn to the police thwarts the prosecution of crimes, makes himself an accomplice and exposes women to future assaults through false advice.”
CDU Berlin: Mood mongering against the police
Schützenhilfe comes from the CDU Berlin. It accuses the AStA of mood-mongering against the police on the back of the women concerned. The protection of these women should have priority, it says in a statement by Adrian Grasse, science policy spokesman, and Cornelia Seibeld, women’s policy spokeswoman of the CDU faction Berlin.
“The justification reveals the completely wrong image that student representatives of our police thus convey.” The conservatives consider the AStA’s accusations that the police are not sufficiently trained to deal with psychologically charged violent offenders and that there is an increased risk of police violence absurd.
It would help the AStA to take a closer look at the work and training of our police, instead of continuing to fall for the campaign of the Greens and the Left against our friends and helpers.”
Feminist association: “Deeply misogynistic”
The chairwoman of the feminist association “Women for Freedom” Rebecca Schönenbach also warns against delegitimizing the police. “We live in a constitutional state and can take action against racist actions by the police.”
That this exists, however, she has no doubt. “In principle, the concern about being discriminated against by the police on the basis of skin color is justified,” Schönenbach said. “What is strange, however, is that the safety of women is subordinated to that of men. This is saying women are worth less than men.” That is “deeply misogynistic,” she said, should the reports about AStA prove true.
Furthermore, she assesses the advice to contact the social psychiatric service instead of the police as impractical on the one hand – as previously described, the person concerned would first have to consent. On the other hand, it is not the task of the assaulted women to decide whether the perpetrator needs help. It is first and foremost a matter of protecting the woman.
