Düsseldorf (dpa / lnw) - The North Rhine-Westphalian police have been preparing for a so-called blackout, a large-scale, long-lasting power failure, for some time. The aim is to be able to continue all internal and external work processes as unaffected as possible in order to maintain security and order even under adverse conditions, the NRW Ministry of the Interior said on request. There was a decree on this in April.
The emergency power supply for the police will be further expanded. Police-owned gas stations should remain in operation even in the event of a power failure. The fuel reserves are to be increased. Although the digital radio used by the North Rhine-Westphalia police is secured via several fallback levels, more than 100 satellite telephones have been purchased. In addition, contingency plans have been drawn up.
In addition to being able to reach the police, the transmission of warnings and messages in the event of a large-scale power failure is of great importance. So the population can get information with battery-powered or dynamo-powered crank radios. People could already prepare for the case online (https://kst2022.nrw/quiz/) with a quiz.
The police, for their part, have the opportunity to inform the population with loudspeaker announcements. In the years 2018-2020, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia procured a total of 25 fire brigade trailers with large emergency power generators and stationed them across the state. In a next step, 75 additional emergency generators are to be procured.
However, the general responsibility for civil protection lies with the districts and urban districts, which have to create requirement plans and risk analyses, the Ministry of the Interior said. Experts and network operators had recently classified a blackout as very unlikely in the event of an overload of the electricity network due to a lack of gas.
