In the ARD is “crime scene” on Sunday evening – in the Spandau Radelandstraße every day. There on the site of the police academy is the “Tatortstraße” – a facility that is unique in Germany.
With great attention to detail, six typical crime scenes were recreated in department I3 for teaching purposes: In addition to an apartment, you will find: arbor, cellar, construction container, late night shop and a pub.
Chief Inspector Simone Schlief (47) manages and oversees the facility with her 13-strong team. Each year, over 1,200 police students go through the six typical crime scenes.
Schlief: “We can show our young colleagues here what is important in their daily work at a crime scene.”
Police cadets come in small groups to a mock case. They have to find and secure traces, reconstruct the course of events and then describe them in detail for the report.
Different scenarios are set up with props from case to case. When the arbours are burgled, for example, shards are distributed, sometimes with and sometimes without blood.
Where is the facility from? Simone Schlief reveals: “Colleagues contributed many things to make everything look as true as possible.”
The reporter was allowed to try his hand at doors when searching for clues. A larger dent in the apartment turned out to be a sure sign that a crowbar was used to break in.
On the other hand, on the door of an old building, a screwdriver was enough to loosen a bolt and open the wing door very easily. The reporter even managed to secure fingerprints with a Zephyr brush.
It is actually the case, as the main clerk Martin Bundermann (53) emphasizes: “Anyone who was here with us for a seminar then has images in their heads that stick better than any educational film.”
And a bit of humor is also involved in the crime scene street: the crime scene pub is called “Café Schimanski” and in winter there was even a real burglary: a raccoon made himself comfortable in the late night and ate prop noodles.
