Ceremonial change of office at the Police Headquarters of Upper Bavaria South – Bavarian Minister of the Interior Joachim Herrmann bids farewell to President Manfred Hauser and introduces Frank Hellwig as his successor – Michael Siefener is the new Vice President

Change of leadership at the Police Headquarters of Upper Bavaria South: At a formal ceremony, Bavaria’s Minister of the Interior Joachim Herrmann introduced the former Vice President Frank Hellwig to the office of Police President. Hellwig succeeds Manfred Hauser, whom Herrmann has appointed as the new president of the Bavarian Office for the Protection of the Constitution (LfV). Hellwig’s successor as vice president is Senior Police Director Michael Siefener.

Herrmann is pleased to welcome the new ‘all-rounders’ at the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution and at the South Upper Bavaria Police Headquarters: ‘With Manfred Hauser as the new head of the LfV, we are gaining a security expert who has managed major operations such as the G7 summit and who has demonstrated strong leadership as Vice President of the LfV and as President of the South Upper Bavaria Police Headquarters’. As a former head of the police law section at the Ministry of the Interior, Hauser also has the legal expertise.

In Frank Hellwig, the Minister of the Interior sees a versatile expert who has learned and experienced the full range of police operations ‘from the ground up’. ‘Hellwig takes on any matter, no matter how complex. He is extremely capable – both personally and professionally. Everyone who has worked with him knows that.’

The Bavarian Minister of the Interior said of Michael Siefener: ‘I know Siefener from my inner leadership team at the ministry and I know that he not only acts with confidence and a cool head in difficult situations. In his career in the police force and in the ministry, he has gained a comprehensive overview of security policy challenges and professional developments in the police force. There is almost no police issue that has not crossed Michael Siefener’s desk.’

According to the Minister of the Interior, the new leadership of the Police Headquarters of Upper Bavaria South expects to find a well-tilled field thanks to the highly successful work of an energetic police force: in 2023, the crime rate in the area of the police headquarters was at an outstanding level of 3,715 crimes per 100,000 inhabitants, well below the already comparatively low Bavarian average of 4,361 crimes per 100,000 inhabitants. Herrmann: ‘The crime clearance rate also sends a clear message here. At 69.1 per cent, it was above the Bavarian average of 65.2 per cent.’