New workshop offer – police act against risky TikTok challenges

According to the police, on May 26, the duo manipulated a toilet facility on the first floor of the Waidhofen an der Ybbs school center. The damage amounted to more than 100,000 euros. The two boys immediately confessed.

Challenges sometimes incite bullying, violence or property damage
Partly for this reason, the police are focusing on prevention courses as part of the ‘Under 18′ initiative. Such workshops have been taking place at the Neue Mittelschule Wendstattgasse in Vienna-Favoriten for more than twelve years. “It is important that the schools recognize that such cooperation with the police offers added value,” says director Markus Ratz. Because the range of crime prevention challenges in schools is vast – from bullying on social media to physical violence to incitement to damage property on the online platform TikTok. “There is nothing wrong with cooperating with the police at a school. But there are certainly still reservations about being labeled a problem school,’ says Ratz.

Explosion caused with disinfectant
His colleague Erika Thurnher can tell you a thing or two about it. The head of the GRG at the Schmelz in Vienna-Rudolfsheim recalls an incident in December 2021. “Toilet paper was stuffed into a bin and then all the disinfectant was emptied from a dispenser. There was an explosion.” and extinguished the small fire in time. “We later found out that a TikTok challenge was the reason for this,” says Thurnher. “The walls then had to be plastered again.”

„There are challenges that are life-threatening”
Jörg Kohlhofer from the Crime Prevention Department of the Vienna State Police Headquarters regularly encounters such challenges in his work. This year alone, he has given workshops at 36 schools as a prevention officer. “These challenges are certainly still evident,” he says. “There are really challenges that are life-threatening.” He and his colleagues deliberately never address the most common TikTok challenges circulating on the internet. “Because we don’t want to arouse children’s and young people’s curiosity for something that they can then Google the Internet to imitate,” says Kohlhofer. “But we get the kids on board, we get the parents on board, and we get the teachers on board,” says Kohlhofer. According to the expert, the focus is mainly on awareness raising and information. “The most important thing is to be attentive and listen,” he advises parents and teachers.

The topics in prevention would change quickly. The internet in particular acts as a catalyst in this regard. “The online world is very diverse, from one moment to the next something else is modern again and a hype is created,” says Kohlhofer. According to the Federal Criminal Investigation Department, the “Under 18” target group consists of young people between the ages of ten and 17. “The schools contact us, tell us what they want, and we create a program,” says Kohlhofer. The spectrum ranges from cybercrime to violence and addiction. In the last year alone, 4,639 consultations took place across Austria. A total of 450 law enforcement officers currently work as prevention officers.

In 2022, 60,200 cyber offenses were reported
As recently as May, Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) pointed out that crime statistics had shown a huge increase in internet crime in recent years. “Almost 60,200 declarations were made in 2022 alone, an increase of more than 30 percent compared to 2021 to 2022.” Young people and children are both perpetrators and victims here, “by threatening other young people via chat groups or social media. But also by becoming victims of sexual harassment via the internet.”