After Halloween Night – The police finally get to set up a Cyber-Cobra

It should be a big step for the executive – and avoid total police failure, as the Halloween riots in Linz announced on the TikTok internet platform: the chief of police and the Ministry of the Interior presented the “biggest reform of the criminal service in 20 years” ” in Vienna on Friday. Many screws are internally turned.

The three “essential pillars”: On the one hand, the work of the criminal investigation department in the regions must be strengthened. To this end, Austria is divided into 30 to 40 regions. One focus is on crime scene work securing digital evidence, another on cyber investigation. “The increasing threat from the virtual world calls for a kind of cybercobra or a patrol on the internet,” said Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP). The aim is to modernize the criminal service at all levels, to make it more efficient and flexible, said the head of the federal criminal investigation department, Andreas Holzer. In concrete terms, there will be regional hubs at the existing police stations. The 34,000 employees will be expanded with 4,300 additional posts.

The director of the Upper Austrian state police, Andreas Pilsl, announced that all departments with more than 19 employees would have their own detective groups – more about this in the interview below.

Also upgrade in “real life”
In addition, units will be set up in the state’s investigative offices to further develop the fight against organized crime, in particular in the areas of smuggling and trafficking in human beings. According to Karner, more than 620 people smugglers have been arrested this year.

Given the increase in crime in the digital sector by almost 30 percent, there will soon be “Cybercrime Training Centers” in six states, where police officers will be trained for “online patrol duty”.

The high demand for IT specialists will be met in the future by more recruitment at universities and colleges and by the possibility of special contracts for cyber experts. “We are investing heavily in IT infrastructure and equipment, the budget of the General Directorate for Public Security has been significantly increased, by EUR 325 million to a total of EUR 3.088 billion,” said Franz Ruf, Director General for Public Security.

‘Internet is the crime scene of the future’
“OO Krone”: Mr. Director of the State Police, as Deputy Project Manager, you were directly involved in criminal reform. If you read through the documents, the fight against cybercrime plays a particularly important role. Why?
Andreas Pilll: In recent years, the number of crimes in the online field has increased enormously. Cybercrime is the future, there is no doubt about that. And if we, as an executive, want to continue to have the confidence of the people, then we must rise to that challenge – and that can only be done through professional work.

Investigation work in this area in particular will be outsourced to the regions. Isn’t this disempowering and weakening the state’s criminal investigation department?
On the contrary, the LKA will have access to many more colleagues in the future. Let me give an example: if a young man falls in love online, sends nude photos and then realizes that what he thinks of great love is a gang of crooks based abroad who are now blackmailing him, then in the future the local police officer will have to not only report but also ask the right questions, conduct data forensic research and – under the supervision of the LKA – conduct further investigations yourself.