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Ex-police officer under indictment: Illegal data queries for quick money!
Ex-employee of the Vienna police charged: Illegal data requests for customers in exchange for payment - background and consequences.
Ex-police officer under indictment: Illegal data queries for quick money!
In a current case of abuse in the police system, a former employee of the Vienna police is at the center. How courier reports, the 20-year-old was charged in the regional court after he illegally provided access to data from the police computer between January and March 2023. The defendant, who was employed as a clerk in the Vienna police force, carried out data queries for a fee and earned up to 12,000 euros.
The dark history behind this business model is as shocking as it is revealing. The defendant admitted that he referred his paying customers through a man of Turkish origin whom he had met in a hairdresser's shop. Together with a 40-year-old co-defendant, he developed the idea of misleading people with unrealistic promises about visas, language certificates and driving licenses. He confessed that he only cared about the money and was carried away by a tempting offer.
Personal motives and ways out
In an emotional plea, the defendant explained that he was in a “bad life situation.” Above all, the fear of losing his partner and their two children drove him into these illegal businesses. He couldn't provide enough financial support with his regular income, which eventually led him to take the risk.
What is shocking is that such cases do not only occur in Vienna. According to the numbers Posto Since 2018, over 400 cases have been initiated against police officers in Germany due to unauthorized data requests. Information was often accessed for purely private reasons, with mass misuse of public security data. The federal states have different control mechanisms, which leads to a patchwork of regulations.
Unsustainable conditions in the police
The problems are not limited to individual cases. Network politics points out that administrative offense proceedings against police officers increased sharply in 2022. There was considerable evidence that police officers repeatedly violated data protection and information rights. What is particularly alarming is that a large proportion of these breaches occurred in Saxony, where 75% of cases are suspected of unauthorized access to personal data.
The pressure on the police is not without reason. Data protection authorities are calling for more clarity and effective controls to prevent the misuse of sensitive data. But how long can things go on like this without fundamentally changing anything? While people hope for clean, lawful actions from the police, scandals seem to keep surfacing, casting a shadow over trust in government institutions.