Police special unit in action – salzburg.ORF.at
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Specially trained police negotiators are being called in more and more often to de-escalate dangerous conflicts. Mental problems have increased since the beginning of the CoV crisis – with one reason for the increasing number of deployments of these so-called negotiating groups, it is said.
The specially trained police officers are used in conflict situations in which special negotiating skills are required. For example, in the case of hostage-taking, blackmail, kidnapping, barricading or suicide. They are also called upon to analyze threatening and extortion letters or look after relatives of victims during a crime.
The state of emergency is their everyday work
There are a total of six of these negotiation groups across Austria that are specially trained to talk and listen. “Both are absolutely important. We are for people in states of emergency because we are having discussions with the circumstances and the perpetrators,” says Mario Rieder. He is the Salzburg head of the Central Negotiation Group, which operates in the two federal states of Upper Austria and Salzburg.
Family conflicts with gun piles themselves
The negotiators of the Mitte group handed over a total of 34 times in 2020, 30 times in 2021. Of these, they were at ten locations in Salzburg. Rieder has observed a significant increase in operations since the beginning of the CoV pandemic: “These are primarily threat situations that mostly take place in the family area, with firearms or other weapons. It can be observed that the numbers have increased over the last few years. And now, in the second year of Corona, we have consistently high numbers of deployments, ”says Rieder.
“Negotiation goes to the substance”
The aim of the negotiators is to end conflict situations non-violently for the benefit of all those involved. This is often very nerve-wracking, but also very satisfying when it works: “Negotiating is very stressful. The ultimate goal is, of course, to end a police situation as peacefully as possible, and everyone involved will be happy if this goal can be achieved,” says Rieder.
Psychologist at the BKA leads the groups
There are a total of 23 specially trained negotiators for Upper Austria and Salzburg, three of whom are police officers. Austria-wide there are 119 in the six negotiating groups. The negotiation group is headed by a psychologist at the Federal Criminal Police Office.