High property damage

Burglaries in schools and kindergartens again

Most recently, strangers targeted the Riedau secondary school.(Bild: Manfred Fesl)

In mid-January, the police caught up with a group of criminals who specialized in breaking into educational establishments. Now, unknown perpetrators have struck again at schools and kindergartens, destroying windows and doors. But why are these properties so popular with thieves?

It was only in mid-January that a gang specializing in school break-ins was arrested. Most recently, three strangers broke into the Riedau secondary school and stole money for school trips. There seems to be no end in sight to such crimes: during the semester break and this week alone, unknown persons broke into an elementary school and three kindergartens in the districts of Haid and Kremsdorf in Ansfelden.

High property damage
The loot is likely to be small, Mayor Christian Partoll (FPÖ) emphasizes "that there is nothing to get there". What remains is the damage to property: "They broke open doors and windows, so the damage amounts to a few thousand euros," says Partoll angrily. The municipality is in contact with the police, who will be patrolling the areas more frequently in the near future. "We are also thinking about alarm systems in the properties."

"Easy" prey
The "OÖ-Krone" wanted to know from Christian Schmidseder, head of the burglary department at the Upper Austrian state police directorate, why educational establishments seem to be so attractive to crooks: "The properties are often located on the outskirts of towns or settlements, they are uninhabited and there are usually no alarm systems," said the investigator.

We are not currently seeing a sharp increase in such crimes.

Christian Schmidseder, Polizei

Once the perpetrators are inside the building under the cover of darkness, they break or kick open doors to make off with small amounts of cash. "There are always crimes like this, but we haven't seen a sharp increase yet," says Schmidseder reassuringly.