Innsbruck and Imst

New heads in the Alpine police: facing tricky missions

Franz Markart, Head of Training of the Tyrolean Alpine Police, and Viktor Horvath, Tyrol's top Alpine Police officer, with the new district leaders Willi Auer and Daniel Kölli (from left).(Bild: Johanna Birbaumer)

The Innsbruck and Imst Alpine task forces of the Tyrolean police have recently been under new leadership: Daniel Kölli and Wilhelm Auer have taken on tasks that require a sure instinct.

The previous head of the Tyrolean police in Innsbruck and Innsbruck-Land, Jörg Randl, moved to the Alpine Association, while his counterpart in Imst, Peter Gasteiger, retired. The footsteps that Wilhelm Auer from Oetz is taking over are huge: his predecessor Gasteiger was head of alpine police in the Imst district for more than 30 years!

The investigation of alpine accidents - in open terrain and on the ski slopes - is one of the most important tasks of the alpine police. Tyrol's alpine police are of course also in charge of rescue and search operations.

In 2018, I was the head of operations during the days-long search for a 24-year-old from Umhaus. I was in regular contact with the desperate relatives.

Wilhelm „Willi“ Auer

Drama in Umhausen
They are regularly confronted with suffering and tragedy and have to show a great deal of sensitivity when dealing with relatives. Wilhelm "Willi" Auer, an air rescuer for Libelle Tirol, remembers a particularly challenging search operation.

"In 2018, I was the head of operations during the days-long search for a 24-year-old man from Umhausen. I was in regular contact with the desperate relatives." The operation ultimately ended bitterly: the young man was only discovered dead after around a week. "After such missions, you talk a lot within the team to come to terms with what you've experienced," says the 44-year-old mountain guide.

Delivering death messages
Daniel Kölli (41) from Mils near Hall, previously deputy head of the Innsbruck Alpine Operations Group, knows what his colleague Auer is talking about. "In my previous police work, I often had to deliver death messages," he recalls. The last time he had to take on such a task as an alpine police officer was at the beginning of October in Leutasch. A 21-year-old German died there on the Hohe Munde. A desperate search for the young man lasted several days before he was found dead in the snow.

Also an air rescuer from 2025
Daniel Kölli is also a police mountain guide and head of operations for the Hall mountain rescue service. From next year, he will also be flying missions as an air rescuer for Libelle Tirol - and will probably once again be confronted with a great deal of suffering during numerous fatal rescues.