For years there has been agreement in the state of Berlin that the public order offices founded in 2004 should be connected to the BOS digital radio network. At that time, however, there was no nationwide regulation for the inclusion of new users in the BOS digital radio subscriber group.

The prerequisite for this was only made possible with the BOS digital radio guidelines (the recognition guidelines of July 7, 2021).

Neukölln and Reinickendorf as pilots
After the introduction of the BOS Digital Radio Recognition Directive and the associated opening of the network to new user groups, the Berlin district of Neukölln also applied for a connection to the BOS digital radio network. With the confirmation received in June 2022, onboarding for the two pilots – the Neukölln public order office and the Reinickendorf public order office – could begin.

The entire onboarding process was thanks to professional support from the Authorized Body for Digital Radio Berlin (AS Berlin), the Federal Agency for Digital Radio BOS (BDBOS), the Information and Communication Technology Department of the Berlin Police (IUK A 27), the THW and the Berlin Police Academy Completed in October 2023 after just 16 months.

Necessity to connect the Berlin public order offices
The Berlin public order offices were founded in 2004 with the primary aim of strengthening the Berlin police by taking over tasks from the road traffic authority - such as to relieve the burden of “writing speeding tickets” in stationary traffic and to carry out the tasks of maintaining public safety and order that are already the responsibility of the districts. Over time, the public order offices were given additional sovereign tasks, so that today they are responsible for:

• the protection of young people and non-smokers

• compliance with the regulations in parks and noise protection

• Food inspections of catering establishments in the districts as well as inspections of large food establishments and food production facilities

• animal protection

• ensuring properly conducted elections

• compliance with road permits and permits

• market settings

• compliance with shop opening times

• testing the reliability of security guards in the guarding industry

• the enforcement of the Prostitute Protection Act

• business licenses and withdrawals, the sealing of commercial businesses, background checks for the operation of businesses and the fines (also through asset confiscation) of businesses for violations, including filing criminal charges with the police

As part of special organizational structures for operations such as the Carnival of Cultures, the Berlin Marathon or the European Football Championship next year, the public order offices are so closely involved in the operational measures of the Berlin police that the possibility of setting up a TBZ (tactical-operational cooperation) call group is a great relief represents.

The Neukölln public order office works with an advanced control center for such major events. For this purpose, a small van with a workstation was purchased, which will be equipped with a fixed radio. The list of the transfers of motor vehicles is carried out via tablet and laptop and is sent to the information and investigation center (AusFaSt) of the Berlin police when a street is cleared, which in turn immediately informs the caller about the transfer location. Especially in mobile situations like on May 1st, the connection via a TBZ (tactical operational cooperation) radio group can prevent employees from being surrounded by demonstrations by the public order office and unable to work for a significant period of time. Such temporary inability to work cause considerable costs and loss of earnings for both the public order office and the assigned implementers.

The Neukölln public order office works particularly closely with the Berlin police, the Senate Department for Economic Affairs, Energy and Enterprises, the tax investigation department and also customs in highly professionalized, so-called joint operations. In the network, trade controls, youth and non-smoker protection controls, money laundering offenses, tax investigations, controls to prevent undeclared work and the craft role are jointly checked. Planning and carrying out operations is very complex and requires a lot of exchange with the participants in the network, especially on site.

The BOS digital radio is an absolutely necessary tool for the public order offices for coordination and operational management - be it in joint operations, in disasters or simply for coordinating the patrols when fulfilling general regulatory tasks.

Acticle was translated by Google Translate