Austria's news in English

Change edition:
France ·
Denmark ·
Germany ·
Italy ·
Norway ·
Spain ·
Sweden ·
Switzerland

File photo: Landespolizeikommando

Austria to test police body cameras

Published: 17 Aug 2015 16:37 GMT+02:00

Austrian police will start wearing body-mounted cameras as part of a test programme from January 2016, the interior ministry has confirmed.

Video shows alleged police violence in Vienna (11 Aug 15)
Police aim to recruit more ethnic minorities (18 May 15)
Video of police arrest shows 'orgy of violence' (13 Mar 15)

The cameras are seen as a tool for collecting evidence for criminal investigations, exposing abusive police practices, and exonerating officers from fabricated charges.

Interior Ministry spokesman Karl-Heinz Grundböck confirmed a report in the Österreich newspaper on Monday but said the details of the trial, which will affect police in Vienna and other locations in Austria are still to be fixed. It is still unclear how long the test phase will last.

The body cameras are designed to record images and sound and should provide “comprehensive documentation," Grundböck said. He said that they will be used in situations “where it can be assumed that there will be an escalation of violence”.

The body-worn cameras were first discussed in May 2014 after right-wing demonstrators in Vienna clashed with counter-demonstrators and police. At the time the police were accused of having carried out “an orgy of violence”, and beating up various left-wing protesters.

After the backlash, Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner (ÖVP) rejected calls for police to wear individual ID badges and said she was in favour of body cameras.

Some specialized prison guards will also test the body cameras from January 2016. They are called in when prison situations escalate and become aggressive or when inmates threaten to kill themselves.

A spokesman for the justice ministry, Josef Schmoll, said the cameras were being tested after an increase of abuse allegations against prison officers. He said the cameras would help ensure officers are following the correct procedures, and would also serve as evidence if allegations of abuse are made.

He added that they would complement taser cameras, which are already used by specialized prison guards, to document when a taser is fired. He said tasers had only been used once in 2013 and 2014 in Austrian prisons, in both instances to prevent a suicide attempt.

Body-mounted cameras were introduced for French police officers working in high crime areas last year, as a way to cut the number of attacks on police, and several German cities have experimented with the technology.

For more news from Austria, join us on Facebook and Twitter.

The Local (news.austria@thelocal.com)

Promoted stories

10 Of The Most Powerful Photographs Ever Taken

(Viral Craze)

10 Short Jokes Anyone Can Remember

(Reader's Digest)

25 Celebrities That You Forgot Committed Horrible Crimes

(LifeDaily)

This App is Quickly Replacing Human Financial Advisors

(Business Insider)

Recommended by

Your comments about this article

WHAT'S THIS?

AROUND THE WEB

Warren Buffett Just Gave Americans a Big WarningThe Motley Fool

4 Billionaires Say: Something Big Coming Soon In U.S.AStansberry Research

Pastor Mocked for His ‘Biblical Money Code’ Gets Last LaughNewsmax

Meet The Man Who Is Disrupting a $13 Billion Razor IndustryDollar Shave Club

#1 Worst Exercise That Ages You FasterMAX Workouts Fitness Guide

Wrestling Took Its Toll on These 13 Passed WarriorsThePostGame

Today's headlines

The damaged van which was carrying 50 refugees. Photo: LPD NÖ

Six injured in migrant smuggling van crash

Six people were injured when a van smuggling refugees through Austria was involved in an accident on Vienna’s S1 ring road on Tuesday morning in a tunnel near Vösendorf. Fifty people were crammed in the back of the van, including children.

The new legislation is partly designed to ease the situation at Traiskirchen. Photo: ORF

Angry backlash to new asylum law

The leader of Austria’s right-wing Freedom Party (FPÖ), Heinz-Christian Strache, has reacted angrily to the news that the coalition government has reached agreement with the Greens on new legislation that would make communities across the country obliged to take in asylum seekers.

Image: Screenshot from media watchdog Kobuk

Paper sued over air crash co-pilot photo

Court proceedings opened on Monday against an Austrian newspaper for publishing a photo of a German man wrongly identified as the co-pilot who deliberately crashed a Germanwings plane in the French Alps in March.

File photo: Landespolizeikommando

Austria to test police body cameras

Austrian police will start wearing body-mounted cameras as part of a test programme from January 2016, the interior ministry has confirmed.

Penka Baleva. File photo: frognews.bg

Daredevil gran bungee jumps off Europabrücke

A Bulgarian octogenarian has made a lifelong dream come true by bungee jumping from one of Europe's highest bridges, near Innsbruck.

Photo: Smial/Wikimedia

Hunter killed by lightning bolt

A hunter in Molln, Upper Austria, was struck by a lightning bolt early on Sunday morning and killed.

Austria's border with Bavaria. Photo: Mike Gnell/Gadding.com

Austria rejects calls for German border controls

The Austrian interior ministry has rejected calls for the reintroduction of border controls with Germany, following claims from the German state of Bavaria that large numbers of refugees are crossing the border.

Ever wish you had one of these for grandma's soup? Photo: Blasl

Austria's museum for useless inventions

From a transparent suitcase for nudists to automatic nose pickers - Austria's museum of nonsense and its vast collection of silly yet brilliant inventions are proof that bad ideas, if carried out well, can turn into genius creations.

'Peeping Tom' caught out in supermarket

A 57-year-old man who went to great lengths to construct a home-made device to film up women’s skirts in an Austrian supermarket has been caught and reported for sexual harassment.

Asylum seekers sleeping in the grounds of Traiskirchen. Photo: ORF

'No respect' for human rights at Traiskirchen camp

Amnesty International has complained of inhumane conditions at Austria’s reception centre for asylum seekers in Traiskirchen, in a new report released on Friday.

Promoted stories