Mother accuses – primary school student in Upper Austria filmed with a wildlife camera in the toilet

There is great excitement in a community in the Wels-Land district: a wildlife camera is said to have been installed in the boys’ toilet of the local primary school, which – according to the allegations – is the hallway surface of the toilet. A concerned mother wrote an anonymous letter to the “OÖ-Krone” and got things started.

Student noticed Blinken
The whole thing was discovered about three weeks ago when students from the neighboring high school noticed a flashing light while using the toilet and accidentally discovered the camera. The children then dismantled the device and handed it to the director, but initially nothing happened.

School says nothing about allegations
It was only when the boys told about the incident at home that a mother raised the alarm and confronted the director with the allegations. But she only said that the issue had already been resolved and declined to comment on the allegations when asked by “Krone.”

Short circuit action by the school janitor
The responsible mayor speaks of a “short-term action” by the school caretaker: “The toilets were repeatedly smeared with feces and blocked, the urinals were blocked and then overflowed. “The doors were also locked, so the younger children couldn’t go to the toilet and almost wet their pants,” he says.

Report submitted
“Neither the director nor I knew about the camera. The schoolmaster simply lost his patience and resorted to the wrong measures. He apologized for it,” the mayor said. After finding the cameras, the school management informed the community, who contacted the police and filed a report. The Public Prosecution Service of Wels also investigated and was instructed to assess the camera.

No criminal offense
“We secured a memory card and looked at it; 4.5 hours of material was recorded on it,” says prosecutor Silke Enzlmüller. It was also determined that the meeting was held solely to clear up the vandalism. Therefore, no investigation into data protection violations was conducted. “There is no suspicion of a criminal offense, the Public Prosecution Service has refrained from starting an investigation,” Enzlmüller explains.

“Appeal to the Reason of Children”
Education director Alfred Klampfer also spoke out in the case: “The well-being and safety of students has the highest priority. Video recordings are of course prohibited on school grounds.” Due to the repeated infections on the school grounds, he recommends “talking to the students and appealing to their common sense.”