ARCHIV - Ein alter Sessel und diverser Müll sind am 01.02.2017 auf einem Gehweg in Berlin-Neukölln zu sehen. Berlin hat jedes Jahr Millionenkosten mit illegalem Müll. (zu dpa «Illegaler Sperrmüll auf Berlins Straßen - 27 000 Meldungen» vom 22.04.2017) Foto: Gregor Fischer/dpa +++(c) dpa - Bildfunk+++ | Verwendung weltweit

Illegal rubbish, wrongly parked cars, repeated noise pollution – Neukölln is notoriously known for some administrative offences. At the same time, the people of Neukölln report many violations via the regulatory office app: As the responsible city councilor Sarah Nagel (left) said at the last district assembly (BVV) at the request of the Greens member Bernd Szczepanski, a total of 36,458 reports were received via the app in 2021.

The number does not necessarily correspond to the number of violations: Whether violations were reported several times or a report contains several violations cannot be determined without great effort, Nagel continued.

As a rule, however, people would report more than one administrative offense at a time. In addition, there would be ads that would come in via email and not via the app.

All reports received have been processed, Nagel said. However, proceedings cannot always be opened – for example, if there is no clear polluter or witnesses named by name.

In addition, the principle of opportunity applies, Nagel continued – that is, it is also up to the authority’s discretion whether an offense is considered serious enough to take action at all.

In fact, according to the figures, only one in seven cases has so far been initiated: 5,496 administrative offense proceedings were started in 2021. The amount of the fines adds up to around 400,000 euros. Due to a lack of staff, not all reports from 2021 have been processed so far, Nagel said.