Teenage girls attack police at St. Gallen train station
Published: Saturday, Jan 6th 2024, 15:00
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Three teenage girls tried to prevent the police from carrying out a body check by force at St. Gallen railroad station on Friday evening. A 15-year-old whom the plainclothes patrol wanted to check was initially able to flee, but was later arrested. According to the police, the incident is not an everyday occurrence. However, they have observed increasing disrespect - from younger and younger people.
The patrol approached the 15-year-old on a platform shortly before 8.30 p.m., the St. Gallen cantonal police reported on Saturday. He fled after a brief conversation, but was caught up with by the police a short time later.
The three female teenagers reportedly interfered when the police tried to handcuff the 15-year-old. After the police stopped him again after another short escape, the girls then tried to drag the police officers away and punched them.
According to the press release, the police then used pepper spray and initially withdrew. Later, with the help of the St. Gallen city police, all four young people were arrested - although the girls put up a fierce fight and became violent again.
According to the cantonal police, the girls arrested were a 13-year-old Swiss girl, a 15-year-old Eritrean girl and a 16-year-old Afghan girl. The male juvenile, a Swiss national, was wanted for arrest and returned to an institution for juveniles as requested, it said. The police officers involved were not injured in the incident.
"Tip of the iceberg"
Fortunately, the St. Gallen cantonal police do not experience such blatant situations every time they are deployed, wrote police spokesman Florian Schneider in response to an inquiry from the Keystone-SDA news agency. However, other police forces, particularly in cities, now send more than two police officers on patrol together in certain areas. This is still some way off in St. Gallen.
"I would describe the reported case as the tip of the iceberg for the time being," says Schneider. We are seeing increasing disrespect from younger and younger people in more urban environments - especially when going out at the weekend and in more urban surroundings.
Alcohol lowers inhibitions
The police spokesman also cited alcohol and drugs as factors that lower the inhibition threshold. Respect is not very good, especially when young people are out and about in groups.
The St.Gallen cantonal police do not want to deduce a general trend towards more juvenile crime from such incidents. In 2022, the proportion of juveniles committing crimes under the Criminal Code remained stable compared to the previous year at 13% - although 35 out of 75 suspects in robberies were under the age of 18.
Intensive offenders carry weight
According to Schneider, the picture for 2023 is likely to be similar - possibly with a slight upward trend in overall juvenile delinquency. The final statistics will be published at the end of March.
Schneider went on to explain that it should be noted that individual young people commit a large number of criminal offenses, resulting in a high number of cases - often in groups and also across cantonal borders. Recently, there have also been a few girls with high levels of delinquency - but it is not yet possible to speak of a trend in this area, as the data is still lacking.
©Keystone/SDA
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