Vienna safe, but:

Pürstl: “Crime by minors doubled”

(Bild: krone.tv)

Vienna's Chief of Police Gerhard Pürstl analyzes the current situation of the Vienna police in an interview with krone.tv. For example, the investigations into the Rammbock gang, which led to success a few days ago. This was a group of criminals from Serbia who repeatedly broke into stores with stolen cars and robbed jewelry stores and boutiques in a matter of minutes.

Pürstl: "The specialists at the State Office of Criminal Investigation were needed here, as well as cooperation with the Federal Office of Criminal Investigation and contacts abroad. I always say that security needs a steady hand. Because things naturally take time when a phenomenon like this occurs. Then it's a matter of analyzing, developing strategies and then finally striking with the appropriate tactics. And that was also successful here." At the moment, however, there is 'nothing in the bag', where other comparably large phenomena, which are already known to the public, are about to be cleared up. Pürstl, meaningfully adding: "And if that were the case, I wouldn't be mentioning it here now."

Vienna's Chief of Police Gerhard Pürstl in the krone.tv talk

(Bild: krone.tv)

From the police chief's point of view, the experience with gun ban zones in Vienna, for example in Favoriten, has been very positive: "Violent crime has recently been greatly reduced compared to spring and early summer. There has been a slight increase in drug-related crime. But where there is more control, there is also more. We have seized 113 weapons, almost 80 of which were knives. That is also the reason why I am still in favor of an Austria-wide ban on carrying knives. And for an Austria-wide ban on carrying weapons in public places. Except for those who carry an appropriate ID card."

Drug rings uncovered
In Vienna, a lack of prospects is currently very common among young people: "You have to tackle the problems at their roots. Those who are in the public space are often young people and children. They lack education, they lack training. There's a huge lack of prospects. This means that the police can only ever scoop the foam from the top of the soup. But what's bubbling underneath is where you have to start: We have to give young people prospects."

There have been great successes, such as countless arrests, drug rings that have been uncovered and dealers who have been arrested. "But the whole thing is ultimately just a drop in the ocean. Because the root lies somewhere else entirely: the root of drug-related crime is people who slip into this milieu and then become addicted. Then it becomes a health problem. And when it becomes a health problem, it becomes a social problem." Although violent crime in Vienna has decreased, Pürstl qualifies: "What is important, however, is that youth crime, crime committed by children, is causing us problems. Crime committed by minors has doubled overall in the last ten years."

In general, there has been a high increase in the crime clearance rate in Vienna in recent years: Up to 45 percent of all reports filed could be cleared up by the police. Apart from juvenile crime, only cybercrime has increased.