But criminologists don't see a link between violent crime and immigrant background. Though non-Germans are disproportionately represented in police knife crime statistics, that in itself is not a very helpful insight, argued Baier.

"If we look closer at the group of non-Germans, we find very different groups of people: There are Eastern Europeans, North Africans, we have South Americans, we have people of Arab background," he said. "Those are very different cultures, so we can't say there's anything like a specific 'knife' culture, or an ethnic background that has a direct connection to carrying knives."

"We really need to talk less about the country they came from, but the circumstances of their lives," he added. "In what milieus do they grow up? Among which friends, that they think it's important to carry knives? What's their educational background? We need to look at their social circumstances, and not get stuck on nationality."

Imagine getting paid to be this obtuse...