Special unit

Military professionals who ensure law and order

Vice Lieutenant Stefan Kandler (center), commander of the Tyrolean Military Police since July 2024, here with two members of his unit in the Standschützenkaserne.

(Bild: Berger Hubert)

The Austrian Armed Forces are celebrating their 70th anniversary this year. A good reason to turn the spotlight on the military police for Tyrol and Vorarlberg. The demands on the 18 soldiers are high and their area of deployment does not end at the Austrian border. 

Respectable people have become rare in the present day. You can almost count them on one hand, those people, or rather professional groups, who instil this feeling through their task alone. This rare species can still be found in the Austrian Armed Forces - in the form of the soldiers of the military police.

Eighteen soldiers - five of whom are female - are stationed in the Innsbruck Standschützenkaserne barracks as law enforcement officers under the command of Vice Lieutenant Stefan Kandler. Born in 1975, Kandler knows the military police, which was called the military patrol until 2019, from the ground up, as he has been part of this special unit since his basic military service.

From personal protection to investigative services
He and his team are responsible for operations in Tyrol and Vorarlberg. However, they are also deployed on command to projects throughout Austria and abroad. These range from security and public order services at major events such as "Airpower", the "Grand Tattoo" in Innsbruck or swearing-in ceremonies, to personal protection for national and international persons in the interests of the Austrian Armed Forces, to investigative and police duties in foreign missions.

The "flaming grenade", the traditional symbol for special forces since the Napoleonic era, is the symbol of the military police. Order and security forces of the monarchy and later also the Austrian gendarmerie wore and still wear this symbol with pride. Just as it is part of the identity of the Carabinieri in Italy, for example.

Strict requirements for the job
Last year, Tyrolean military police officers carried out 186 journal services, 37 law enforcement services, 22 investigation services and 16 drug prevention missions. The job of a military police officer requires a high level of physical and mental fitness, extensive knowledge of the applicable laws and sensitivity in dealing with people.