Unusual Cooperation

Essen police officer Herbert Czarnyan was familiar with the unemployment, poverty and low education levels that led to youth crime in Essen's Katernberg neighborhood. But instead of cracking down on local youths himself, he turned to imams in Katernberg's three mosques for help.

Czarnyan organized a meeting that included businesspeople, the parents of children, who vandalized local property, and a Lebanese imam.

"[The imam] addressed the parents and told them that their children's behavior was a disgrace for the community, and he demanded a response from the fathers," Czarnyan said of the first time Essen's police sought religious aid in fighting crime 10 years ago.

Expanded cooperation

Since that initial meeting, the partnership between police and the religious leader has grown to include talks with at-risk youth and their parents, and the mosque has become a contact point for educational opportunities and recreational activities.

Police say pressure from the imam helped curb youth crime and push down delinquency rates among immigrants in the region.

After seeing the progress made at Essen's Lebanese mosque, Halit Pismek, an imam at one of Essen's two Turkish mosques, gave his support to the project.

"Why shouldn't we work with the police?" Pismek said, adding that the mosque's religious council agreed with the decision. "We are very satisfied. Our major problem was domestic violence and crime, and the members of the community wanted to find a way to solve this problem. The police offer was perfect for us."

Shared concerns

The agreement has also helped police, according to Chief Commissioner Frank Matuszek. The youth in Essen-Katernberg understand that there is no more space beyond the reach of the law..

Matuszek said the cooperation has also helped break down barriers between mosque members and police officers.

"We have learned more about each other in this project and have thus been able to dispel a lot of fears," he said. "The mosque community was able to see that police officers are only citizens in uniform and are also family fathers with the same concerns."

Now 10 years old, the Essen project is being copied and adapted by cities across Germany with Czarnyan often holding lectures about his work in large German cities, and Pismek passing on his experiences to other religious leaders.