In order to further improve security in Heilbronn’s city centre, the city of Heilbronn and the Heilbronn police headquarters have installed video surveillance on Heilbronn’s market square.
“For years, the city of Heilbronn has been a leader in safety among large cities in Baden-Württemberg. The close cooperation between the police and the city, which we consolidated and strengthened just last year, has played a major role in this. Of course, this is not a sure-fire success. In Heilbronn, we have done a lot to ensure that people are not only safe, but also feel safe. Now we are going one step further and launching video surveillance on Heilbronn’s market square – thereby not only strengthening security, but also people’s sense of security,” said Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Thomas Strobl on Wednesday (3 September 2025) at a joint press conference in Heilbronn Town Hall.
‘The city of Heilbronn welcomes video surveillance by the police as a further component of its security architecture. I am certain that this will increase many people’s subjective sense of security and also objectively contribute to further improving security in the monitored area,’ said Harry Mergel, Lord Mayor of the City of Heilbronn.
Frank Spitzmüller, President of the Heilbronn Police Headquarters, emphasised at the launch of video surveillance on Heilbronn’s market square: “The positive statistical crime trend in 2024 in the city of Heilbronn shows that the numerous police measures already in place are having an effect. With active video surveillance on the market square, we are now adding the next building block to further improve the safety of citizens in public spaces.”
Framework conditions and cooperation
Police Chief Spitzmüller had ordered the launch of video surveillance for Heilbronn’s market square on 3 September 2025. Since April 2023, the Heilbronn Police Headquarters and the City of Heilbronn have been working closely and trustingly together as part of the ‘Safe Heilbronn’ concept to combat crime in the city centre and consistently counter other disturbances of public order.
Police Chief Frank Spitzmüller went on to explain that ‘a key success factor’ is the increased presence of police and municipal law enforcement officers in the city, coupled with targeted control measures. In addition, a number of other measures have been introduced jointly, such as the ban on street prostitution in Hafenstraße, the ban on alcohol at Flügelnussbaum/Stadtgarten and the weapon and knife ban zones at the main railway station and in the city area.
The partnership between the Heilbronn Police Headquarters and the City of Heilbronn was consolidated and expanded on 17 October 2024 with the signing of the ‘Safe Heilbronn’ cooperation agreement between Interior Minister Thomas Strobl, Mayor Harry Mergel and Police Chief Frank Spitzmüller. The security authorities and the City of Heilbronn then expanded their measures once again. In addition to tailor-made crime-fighting measures tailored to the respective groups of people, presence and control measures were intensified once again. Low-threshold measures such as expulsion orders or bans on certain individuals or groups of people in the city centre, the increased deployment of plainclothes police officers and regular checks on the poser and speeding scene are just a few examples of the extensive efforts made by the cooperation partners.
Technical implementation
Video surveillance is carried out at precisely defined times. The high-resolution cameras at the market square in Heilbronn transmit their images live to the command and control centre of the Heilbronn police headquarters, where they are evaluated. “Active video surveillance opens up completely new possibilities for us. We can respond to incidents in the shortest possible time and deploy intervention forces to the scene. Our goal is to prevent street crime in particular before it even starts,” added Police Chief Frank Spitzmüller.
In future, the cameras will be in operation from Monday to Friday between 2 p.m. and 9 p.m. and on Saturdays between 8 p.m. and 2 a.m. The recordings will generally be stored for 72 hours and then permanently deleted, unless they are required as evidence for the prosecution of relevant criminal offences.
Financing and organisation
The City of Heilbronn, as the local police authority, is responsible for financing the technical implementation. The Heilbronn Police Headquarters is covering the personnel costs for video surveillance with the support of so-called ‘conceptual staff’ from the Police Headquarters Operations Department, who are provided as part of the ‘Safe Heilbronn’ cooperation agreement.
Current security situation
Despite the generally good security situation in the city of Heilbronn, the number of crimes registered by the police in the city centre has been on the rise for several years. This is particularly true of the market square. In the first half of 2025, the number of crimes in public spaces in Heilbronn city centre has risen compared to the same period last year.
Political commentary
The launch of video surveillance on Heilbronn’s market square sends a clear signal: safety in public spaces cannot be taken for granted, but is the result of consistent action and strategic cooperation. The combination of technical innovation with proven measures such as presence and prevention shows that Heilbronn is systematically developing its security architecture. At the same time, it should not be overlooked that technology has its limits: camera systems cannot compensate for understaffing in the police force, which sometimes leads to long response times to alarms. New groups of dangerous individuals, such as those who carry out knife attacks, also create additional insecurity that cannot be overcome by video surveillance alone. From a political point of view, however, the move is to be welcomed – it strengthens the objective security situation and improves the population’s sense of security, even if only as one component of a more comprehensive security strategy.
