Berlin's Chief of Police Babara Slowik felt that she was in good hands. Bodyguards from North Rhine-Westphalia ensured her safety, even if it was only during the first national comparison competition at the Brandenburg military training area in Lehnin.
"We handled an extremely challenging attack and evacuation scenario professionally and calmly under the critical eye of Berlin Police Vice President Marco Langner," reported Dortmund commando Frank L. afterwards. President Slowik was visibly under the impression of the seemingly realistic attack during the exercise, but "the calm and convincing approach" of the team from North Rhine-Westphalia impressed her.
For the first time, the Berlin State Office of Criminal Investigation had invited teams from the state, federal and Bundeswehr personal protection services to take part in the competition. The NRW team was made up of officers from the Cologne and Dortmund district police authorities. The bodyguards from the different locations regularly train together in nationwide exercises. This means that all units operate at the same level. "This made cooperation between the bodyguards on site very easy," explains Frank L. In the final ranking, NRW came out ahead of the bodyguards from Lower Saxony and the Feldjägerregiment Süd/Bayern.
Head of delegation Frank L. summarized: "The level of training and further training of the NRW bodyguards meets the highest requirements. The associated physical and psychological prerequisites for delivering high performance on several consecutive days are fully in place. The tactical interaction between the forces of various authorities with personal protection always proved to be problem-free."
As already known from special forces competitions, the comparison was divided into various stations: Shooting, physical performance, tactical evacuation scenario with protection person in threat level 1, driving course under difficult circumstances, tactical casualty care after attack with evacuation. The last station of the competition was the most complex. The aim was to first care for and then evacuate the entrusted protection person, who had multiple extremely serious injuries following an explosives attack, under considerable stress and direct exposure to troublemakers with firearms.
"I congratulate the NRW competition team on this fantastic achievement. It confirms the high level of performance of the personal protection forces in NRW," said Senior Police Director Ingo Dudenhausen, Head of Division 412 at the Ministry of the Interior of NRW and responsible for personal protection, congratulating the NRW team on its success.
