Security focus

With minister and police chief on the U6

Rare guests in the U6: Interior Minister Gerhard Karner and Vienna's Chief of Police Gerhard Pürstl(Bild: Zwefo)

It was probably the safest ride in the history of the U6: accompanied by dozens of police officers, Minister of the Interior Gerhard Karner and Chief Constable Gerhard Pürstl went on a local inspection along the subway. The occasion: a - satisfied - interim assessment in the fight against juvenile delinquency.

Even top officials from the Ministry of the Interior, the Federal Criminal Police Office and the State Criminal Police Office took out their cell phones to take photos: After all, it's not every day that you see "the bosses" riding the subway together. Karner and Pürstl did not choose the location for their evening excursion by chance: they wanted to demonstrate that Vienna continues to be "one of the safest cities in Europe" along the Gürtel and presented new figures from the task force against youth crime to prove it.

6604 reports since March
The nationwide task force was set up in March following an accumulation of such incidents in Vienna. In reality, however, it deals with all crime in public spaces: out of 6604 reports in eight months across Austria, 1698 were made by young people, and 87 out of 793 arrests in total. However, the proportion of juveniles was higher in the case of weapons seizures: 37 of 107 weapons seized, mainly knives, belonged to juveniles.

Crime figures down by a third
According to Karner, the task force was necessary to "clean up the mess". Significant progress had already been made, said Pürstl, referring to current figures. Offenses involving juvenile delinquency and crime in public spaces had fallen significantly since July, with around 60 cases per month instead of around 90. Karner in turn said: "If we have only prevented one stabbing, it has paid off."

The journey went from Meidling station to Westbahnhof.(Bild: Zwefo)

In Meidling, the officers found a suspect.(Bild: Zwefo)

The Minister of the Interior had brought his ticket with him. Officers in uniform travel for free on public transport.(Bild: Zwefo)

Interior Minister Karner and Police Chief Pürstl with officers at Westbahnhof station(Bild: Zwefo)

Karner sticks to draft law banning knives
Karner and Pürstl agreed, however, that just as there were regular police operations before the task force was set up, they would continue to be needed. The weapons prohibition zones in Vienna also served as an important tool in this respect, and both spoke out in favor of continuing them - as long as there was no general law banning knives. The Ministry of the Interior presented a draft law for this in the summer, but it was rejected by the previous Green coalition partner as too complicated and too vague.

However, Karner still has nothing to say about his draft law. This comes "directly from police work" and is therefore "definitely practicable". He was confident that his draft law would be passed without any compromises or changes under a future new government with ÖVP participation and that it would provide the executive in Vienna and throughout the country with new powers against armed criminals.