Federal Security Guard Corps

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AustriaAustria  Federal Security Guard Corps
Former guards in Austriap1
State level Federation
At sight federal Ministry of Internal Affairs
founding February 2, 1869 as the kk security guard
Dissolved July 1, 2005 (transfer to the Federal Police)
Headquarters Vienna
Corps badge of the Federal Security Guard
Uniform cap of the Federal Security Guard

The Federal Security Guard Corps (in short: Sicherheitswache (SW)) was an armed and uniformed civilian, but military-style guards of the Republic of Austria, assigned to the Federal Police Headquarters in Eisenstadt , Graz , Innsbruck , Klagenfurt , Leoben , Linz , Salzburg , Schwechat , Steyr , St . Pölten , Villach , Wels , Vienna and Wiener Neustadt for the execution of the executive service (maintenance of public calm, order and security). The corps existed from 1869 until it was merged with the federal gendarmerie and the criminal police corps to form the federal police guard in 2005.

history

Vienna

Forerunner of the Security Guard Corps

In 1754 three police overseers were appointed for Vienna who were subordinate to the Lower Austrian Lieutenancy. Josef II creates the position of a police chief director who has to run the secret service independently of the state government. In 1789 the police system in Austria was centralized and in 1793 a police minister was appointed. The beginnings of the Vienna Security Guard, which is derived from the Leopoldine city law of 1221 , go back to the 13th century . At that time, a kind of self-protection association of Viennese citizens was established to maintain peace and order, the members of which were obliged to follow court and land succession, that is, had to patrol the streets at regular intervals.

To carry out these walks, the entire city area was divided into four quarters, which were called Wiedner-, Kärntner-, Stuben- and Schottenvierte after the four large city gates and each was subordinate to a quarter master who was responsible for the division and supervision of this service of the city authorities was. As the citizens found this self-protection service annoying and oppressive over time, they paid their own substitutes. This mercenary system soon got into disarray and fell into disrepair.

Therefore, in 1531, the Vienna City Council felt compelled to use so-called “fire and hour callers”. Their names were also Wachter on the walls , bailiffs , district servants , Torsteer and goal scorers , among salaried town employees were to understand whose profession was the prevention of fires. In addition to these fire calls, there was another troop that had to take care of the security service, the so-called Stadtguardia . This was created in 1546, consisted of dismissed mercenaries and city guards and grew from 60 to 1,200 men over the course of its 200-year existence. It was originally a municipal facility, the team was under the authority of the Stadtguardiahauptmann, to whom a lieutenant and several batches (the Fendrich , Wachtmaister , Waibeln and Bevelshaber ) were assigned to support. This city watch, which is referred to in some sources as the Viennese Knechte , was subsequently taken over by the state, was called the Imperial Fändl since 1582 and was converted into an Imperial regiment in 1618 , making it subordinate to the Imperial War Council as a military unit. Their clothing consisted of red harem pants, white tunics, white wide-brimmed hats with red and white cord, and white stockings.

Often the pay stayed off for months and the servants were put off, which is why the city guards with unauthorized trade, especially buying (buying goods in front of the city gates and selling at a surcharge in the markets) and the Winkel-Leuthiegen (exercising unauthorized licensing) the anger of Viennese citizens excited.

The picture of the city guard is rounded off by Colonel Mansfeld's report from 1641, according to which he had “more old, crooked and lame wine choppers than soldiers”. But they fought quite bravely during the Turkish siege of 1683.

In addition to the city guard, the fire and hour callers mentioned earlier developed into a security day and security night watch since 1547 . The day security guards had to pay particular attention to keeping the streets clean and fighting the plague of beggars, which is why they were also popularly called beggar catchers , while the night security guards had to limit themselves mainly to calling out the hours and cleaning the lamps. The guard house was in the Brunnhäusl on the Hohen Markt.

The uncertainty spread so strongly, however, that the Rumorwache was set up in 1646 , which, due to its internal structure and purpose, can actually be regarded as the first forerunner of the security guard . Her entire title was Rumor and City Security Guard . Because of their yellow cloaks, they were popularly known as the sulfur gang or sulfur quarters . For a period of over a hundred years the Rumorwache was in a bitter dispute with the city guard. Therefore, Emperor Karl VI. after the so-called shoemaker revolt in 1722, the city guard opened, but without this having taken notice of the imperial order. In a letter dated November 20, 1741, Empress Maria Theresa again ordered the immediate dissolution of the city guard. The city guards also opposed this imperial order, but ultimately had to submit.

On March 2, 1776, the security day and night watch was disbanded and the Austro-Hungarian military police station was set up. This consisted of soldiers from the line regiments who volunteered to join the new guard corps, or if too few reports came in, were simply assigned there. The soldiers were completely indifferent to their new, non-military service, especially since their instructions were inadequate and the pay was worse than that of the line regiments.

No value was placed on police expertise. Due to their brutal approach, the military police made themselves as unpopular with the Viennese population as the former city guard. After the Rumorwache was dissolved in 1791 under Emperor Leopold II and the uncertainty in the suburbs increased by leaps and bounds, a uniformed civil police and district guard of 64 men was to be set up in 1792 . This plan failed because of objections from the military authorities. However, the plan was implemented in 1807 and proved its worth.

When the military police station was greatly reduced outside Vienna in the revolutionary year of 1848 , a municipal guard temporarily took its place from 1848 to 1851 as the city security guard. But as early as 1851 the kuk military police station was activated again and increased to the number of 1675 men, while the civil police district guard took off its uniforms in 1852, but remained the executive police and thus became the nucleus of the police agent corps , the forerunner of the detective corps. The military policemen, who were popularly called Zarruck (from: "back!") Because of their rude and harsh interventions , often did not even speak German, so that they had to reject most of the parties with the stereotypical information "nix Deitsch", which eventually became a general and convenient form of refusing to act. They no longer met the requirements of a modern security force and were so unpopular among the population that physical attacks were already carried out against them. The military police station was increased to 2668 men in 1851 and its name was reorganized, but the spirit of the station remained the same.

The security guard corps

Members of the Vienna Security Guard in the Prater around 1900
Office of the security guard around 1900

With the highest resolution of February 2, 1869, Emperor Franz Joseph I approved the establishment of the Imperial and Royal Security Guard in Vienna at the suggestion of Security Minister Count Eduard Taaffe . The Vienna Security Guard was established as a so-called civil institute after the revolutionary turmoil of 1848 and was responsible for maintaining public peace, order and security. Their role models were, among others, their sister organizations in Paris and Berlin . On June 15, 1869, the Vienna Security Guard began their service, initially with 122 men; on December 15, 1869, the last military policeman disappeared from Vienna. The division of the service was of great internal importance. At first the service was divided into three parts, later it was divided into two parts. The easiest and smoothest way of doing the service was with the tripartite division. This division of service comes from the military sector and has proven itself over centuries. This system, which consisted of duty, reserve and leisure, was already described in the instructions for the Rumorwache from 1706. This system was subsequently broken until it was divided into two parts.

The setting up of the security guard was nothing fundamentally new, however, since the Rumorwache already assumed essentially the same position. Removed from any influence of the military authority, but still based on a military basis and subordinate to a state civil authority, all this applies to both the Rumor and the security guard. Even the cause of emergence is the same in both cases. In 1646, the establishment of the Rumorwache met the population, who were dissatisfied with the service of the city guard, and in 1869 an attempt was made to appease the dissatisfied population with the establishment of the security guard. Thus the security guard of 1869 can be seen in its position as the natural successor of the Rumorwache.

In 1869 the workforce was 1277 men. In the next few decades, the Vienna Police Rayon grew steadily due to incorporations, but the staffing level of the security guard could not keep up. In 1914 the workforce was 4,350. 1873 was the founding year of the traffic department of the Vienna Police Department. At the end of the 19th century, the troubles in the empire became more and more diverse due to the social contrasts. Large police forces of both peaceful and unpeaceful nature were the order of the day. The staff at that time was around 4400 men. 800 of them were drafted into military service in the year the First World War began, and many of them died.

First republic

After the end of the war and the constitution of the First Republic, Johann Schober , until then only the (provisional) head of the police department, was appointed the new police chief in Vienna, the most famous of the interwar period. (Schober also acted as Federal Chancellor three times for a short time; see Federal Government Schober I to III.)

He continued the structuring work started by his predecessors. The Vienna Police Department was divided into central offices. Vienna itself was divided into 22 police stations (21 district police stations for the then 21 municipal districts and the Prater police station), each with a security guard department, which were the executive offices of the police headquarters. Each security watch department was headed by a department inspector.

The commissariat areas were divided into districts; in each precinct there was a guard room, usually led by a precinct inspector. The precincts were again divided into rayons, in each of which a security guard, who had been a rayon inspector after a long period of service, had to go on patrol on foot (a colleague was replaced every three hours, the next three hours were back office work or sleeping in the ward's guard room ). The rayons were so small that anyone patrolling in his rayon could, in an emergency, call the patrolman in the neighboring region by whistle.

In addition to the security guard departments in the districts and in the Prater, there were also central special departments: the school department, the equestrian department, the motor vehicle department, the telecommunications department, the service dog department and the prison department. In 1927, as a result of numerous violent riots, the alarm department was founded. After they were set up, the provision of reserve units (reserve companies) from the district departments began.

The political conflicts between Heimwehr and Schutzbund escalated more and more and finally culminated in the riots of July 1927, which led to the fire in the Palace of Justice , with four police officers killed by demonstrators and 89 civilians killed by the police. The security guard was subsequently used more and more to persecute politically dissenters. On February 12, 1934, the prevailing political contradictions resulted in the civil war (social democratic version) and the February uprising (government version) , in which the security guard in Vienna was deployed alongside the armed forces .

In spite of all the political unrest, everyday police operations continued. In 1935 the Danube Service was founded and the police emergency number was introduced. The emergency call center was located in the Moroccan barracks in the 3rd district. Also in 1935, the Police Academy was founded, which was responsible for the two-year training of new police officers.

guide

The central inspector , who was renamed General Inspector in 1933, had the overall supervision and control of the entire executive service of the guard - under the police chief as the superordinate head of the authority . (The term central inspector was then only used in other cities with a federal security guard.)

  • 1869–1879: August Rauscher
  • 1879–1882: Josef Roth
  • 1882-1894: Albin Neswadba
  • 1894–1901: Rudolf von Götz
  • 1901–1908: Ferdinand Gorup von Besánez (1914–1917 police chief)
  • 1908–1910: Tobias Anger
  • 1910–1911: Roman Fuchs
  • 1911–1923: Ignaz Pamer (1945–1946 Chief of Police)
  • 1923–1929: Wladimir Tauber
  • 1929–1933: Michael Skubl (1934–1938 Police Commissioner)
  • 1933–1938: Rudolf Manda
  • 1945–1946: Ferdinand Linhart
  • 1946: Ludwig Humpel (entrusted with the management)
  • 1946: Heinrich Hüttl (entrusted with the management)
  • 1946–1948: Johann Redinger
  • 1948–1955: Anton Täubler
  • 1956–1961: Ferdinand Lehmann
  • 1961–1972: Gottfried Lipovitz
  • 1972–1987: Günther Bögl (1988–1995 police chief)
  • 1988–1993: Othmar Hofstätter
  • 1993–1998: Johann Schererbauer
  • 1999–2002: Franz Schnabl
  • 2003–2005: Ernst Holzinger

In the years after the "Anschluss" of Austria by the German Reich until the end of the Second World War , the uniformed police were referred to as the Schutzpolizei (Schupo). The commanders at that time were:

education

On May 1, 1869, the first applicants were accepted whose training lasted four to six weeks. The requirements at that time were described as follows: "Unusual intellectual strength, momentary perception, liberalism paired with an intimate sense of duty, decency in private life and urban courtesy, even a higher degree of elegance in all traffic are unavoidable requirements of a security officer" .

The security guard was initially trained in a six-week course, while further training was left to the district departments. The increased professional requirements made it necessary to expand and deepen this training, which was soon felt to be insufficient.

On November 1, 1902, a separate school department was set up, which found accommodation in the barracks on Landstraßer Hauptstraße , and later also in the barracks at Postgasse 7. The newly entered guard applicant, who was then called "reserve student", was first familiarized with the basic concepts of his future service by rayon inspectors in an eight-month preparatory course, which was followed by a ten-month main course, in which the lessons were given by legally qualified officials. The training period was extended to one year.

In close connection with the theoretical lessons, there was an introduction to the practical service that had to be carried out in the school guard rooms in Kumpfgasse and in the building of the Kunstgewerbemuseum under the supervision of the instructors. The students were grouped into training units of 25 to 30 men each, called "comradeships", and placed under an instructor who was responsible for training his students. The school department had to stop teaching in 1915 because around 70% of the state had to be used for military service in the First World War .

The elementary school training of the security guard could only last three to four months in 1919, as the increased service requirements and the newly introduced or reintroduced three-group system required a rapid replenishment of the class, which had been melted down by the war. This hasty setting also made the temporary use of new school barracks ( Augartenpalais , Hofstallungen, Hofburg and Schönbrunn Palace ) necessary, as the old school barracks in Postgasse and Landstraßer Hauptstrasse no longer offered enough space for the rapid increase in the number of classes.

As early as 1920, the training period was extended to one year and the entire school operation moved to the former Schwarzenberg barracks, now Moroccan barracks . There - contrary to previous practice - the school and bedroom were separated from each other and the training was based on the principles of modern teaching science. In 1924, the two-year elementary school education was introduced, which was due to the failure of candidates with military discipline and the increase in the subject matter. Of these two years of teaching, four months were spent on a preparatory course in which the security guard candidate attended in plain clothes to familiarize himself with the basic concepts of the police service. This was followed by the twelve-month main course with strictly systematic training in all branches of police knowledge, after which the trainee security guard had to do practical work for four months in a school guard room under the supervision of an instructor. If the result was satisfactory, he was admitted to a four-month closing price in which the entire knowledge acquired so far was rounded off. After the Second World War , “ten-day courses” were held in 1945 in the Müllner barracks. A provisional police school was later built in the town's poor house at Rochusgasse 8. On January 18, 1946, the police school opened in the Rossau barracks . In 1953 the school department of the security guard moved back to the Moroccan barracks .

In the years from 1974 to 1984, the school department association used the police internship model . Fifteen-year-old boys were admitted to the police school after completing compulsory schooling, and police qualifications were acquired within three years based on the model of an apprenticeship.

Towards the end of the history of the Federal Security Guard Corps, those interested in joining the security guard service had to show, in addition to being Austrian citizenship and integrity, above all physical fitness. The admission procedure consisted of the written admission test, the medical examination, the medical movement coordination test and an admission interview. At the start of the training course, the applicant was given a position in the E2c ( aspirant ) application group .

Basic training

The basic training consisted of three sections:

  • Basic part (5 months): theoretical training
  • Internship (2 months): practical training in the guard room
  • Main part (14 months): theoretical training in the training center.

Already during their training, students were able to do wrongdoing e.g. B. be used at major events.

Further education

Depending on the personnel requirements, there was the possibility of further training after passing a previous selection test:

  • Training to become a civil servant (“Charge”): after at least 5 years of service; Course duration: 6 months
  • Training as a senior civil servant ("officer"): after at least one year of service with Matura or B-Matura, or 3 years service without Matura as a service officer; Course duration: 2 years
  • Training for service in the police corps (criminal investigator): after at least 4 years of service; Course duration: 6 months.

Service operation

The service operation differed depending on the area of ​​responsibility of the agency. The majority of the departments, which were designated as guard rooms, were entrusted with the general, orderly police agendas (see below in "Duties and Powers"). Officials of the traffic department were entrusted with the tasks of monitoring and piloting the traffic, piloting in general, priority controls (grid squares) and major events (entry and exit regulations). In the Danube service, the focus was on the monitoring of motorboat and ship traffic, fisherman controls and assistance in the Danube area. The service dog department was responsible for patrol duty with dogs, drug, explosives and tracking searches, major events and the search of vehicles and buildings. The officials of the WEGA (Vienna Task Force Alarm Department) were responsible for all official acts with a higher degree of risk (demonstrations and major events).

In addition to uniforms and armaments, the service at the security guard was also characterized by day and night work and on weekends and public holidays, which was mainly carried out by the officers in charge of the duty and assigned to them.

Ranks

The official title of each SWB was Executive Officer (EB). In addition, on the occasion of his employment in the federal service, he was awarded a rank as a description of use (formerly an official title). As far as linguistically possible, female officers kept the ranks in female form (e.g. district inspector or first lieutenant). The ranks of the Federal Police can be divided into three groups:

Assigned officials

  • aspirant
  • inspector
  • District inspector (after 6 years of service)
  • Group inspector / E2b (from reaching salary level 15)

The ranks of the divided officials denominated until the 1960s ( Prague-automated , d. H. Lifetime verbeamteter) guard (a sechspitziger silver rating), the upper guard (two stars) and Rayon inspector (three stars). The pragmatization still exists.

Duty officers

  • Group inspector
  • District Inspector
  • Department Inspector
  • Control inspector
  • Chief inspector

The entry level of the duty officers used to be district inspector as a guard in command of a guard room (today: police inspection , head unit of several rayons ).

Senior officials

In Vienna, since 1933, the official title of Inspector General has been used for the head of the guard in addition to the rank . In the corps in the federal states and in Vienna until 1933 the designation was Central Inspector .

Official title of the Federal Security Guard Corps
1946 1957 1967
Senior officials
Police general
Police colonel
Police lieutenant colonel
Police major Police major 1st class Police major
Police deputy Police major 2nd class
Police rider Police rider 1st class Police rider
Police rider 2nd class
Police lieutenant
- Police lieutenant
Duty officers
Police Inspector Police Group Inspector
District Police Inspector
Police Department Inspector
Assigned officials
Police Rayon Inspector
Police officer
Police guard

Badges and uniforms

Sleeve badge of the Federal Security Guard Corps
Service number badge as it was used after the Second World War until the 1960s
Security Colonel in 1973
Distinctions of the Federal Security Guard Corps

The badge of the security guard shows in the lower part a tinned ashlar wall, which is surmounted by the neck and head as well as part of the right wing axis of an eagle. The city wall symbolizes the city and its population, over which the federal security guard, represented by the eagle, watches over. The flickering, armed eagle indicates defenselessness and vigilance.

In the beginning, the uniform consisted of a black and gray coat, which was edged in dark green and pompadour red. Initially, a black, stiff felt hat served as headgear, as it was also worn by the gendarmerie since 1860 instead of the spiked hat . In 1883 the felt hat was replaced by a black painted sheet metal helmet. The riders of the police wore gauntlet boots, white gauntlets and a black cartridge with the kk eagle.

The badges of rank consisted of silver metal braids on the stand-up collar; the batches wore silver braids on the edge of their hats and cuffs as well as a saber tassel interwoven with silver. The shoulder pieces (epaulettes) of the senior officials were made of white metal and lined with red; the senior officials wore silver-embroidered fringed epaulettes. The service number was placed on the metal ring collar, popularly known as the "half moon".

From 1892 the dark green tunic and helmet were always worn in service. After the First World War, khaki-colored field uniforms were purchased by the victorious powers as a result of the lack of raw materials; it was not until 1924 that the traditional dark green uniform was reintroduced. From then on, the guards wore dark green skirt blouses, coats and plate caps as well as black trousers.

Over the decades, the uniform was repeatedly adapted with a delay, however, to the respective circumstances and the state of the art, so that the following uniform was in use before the Federal Security Guard Corps was dissolved:

The normal executive service uniform (EU) of the security guard existed until July 1, 2005

  • optionally bottle green or white plate cap (for traffic service) or blue visor cap (" baseball cap "), black beret for special operations
  • black multi-purpose pants
  • optionally gray-blue shirt or gray polo shirt
  • made of bottle green multi-purpose jacket (or combat jacket or fleece jacket).

The distinctions were placed on the shoulders as postponements.

The representation uniform (RU), which was created for festive occasions but also worn by E1 officials in regular service, consisted of

  • bottle green plate cap
  • black uniform pants
  • white shirt
  • bottle green uniform skirt.

The distinctions were affixed here as collar plates on the uniform skirt and as shoulder badges on the shirt.

In some cases there was also a RU with a white uniform skirt, but which was preferably used by the police music and E1 officers. Apart from the officers of the police music, the white uniform skirt had to be procured at your own expense. For special forces there were various overalls and berets, such as

  • Service dog handler: dark gray overall, green beret
  • WEGA : black overall, red beret
  • EE Vienna : light gray overall, conventional black beret

During work services (e.g. installing step gates), green overalls were usually worn.

Weapons and equipment

Service weapons

The officers had the GLOCK 17 pistol at their disposal as a service weapon , in particular the special units also had the assault rifle 77 or the Steyr AUG with short barrel and the MZP 1 grenade pistol from Heckler & Koch. Furthermore, tear gas projectiles, deflection grenades with lightning and bang effects as well as Tonfa batons were used depending on the circumstances.

device

In addition to patrol cars of various manufacturers and types and service helicopters, z. B. the special department "crane" over Pandur armored vehicles. Depending on requirements, protective shields, protective helmets, vehicle speed locks (devices with spikes to deflate the tires of vehicles running over them), protective shields made of bulletproof glass, traffic police stop trowels and of course handcuffs or quick -release fasteners ("handcuffs" made of plastic for major events) were used.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ https://www.bmi.gv.at/magazinfiles/2019/03_04/150_jahre_sicherheitswache_teil_1.pdf
  2. ↑ Central Inspectorate of the Vienna Federal Security Guard: Sixty Years of the Vienna Security Guard , self-published by the Vienna Federal Police Directorate , Vienna 1929, p. 42.
  3. ↑ Bundespolizeidirektion Wien (Ed.): 100 Years of the Vienna Security Guard. 1869–1969 , (self-published) Vienna 1969, p. 78 ff.
  4. ↑ Engelbert Steinwender: From the city guard to the security guard. Viennese police stations and their time , Volume 2: Ständestaat, Greater German Reich, Occupation , Weishaupt Verlag, Graz 1992, ISBN 3-900310-85-8 , p. 310 f.
  5. ^ "Government bill: Salary Act 1946." Houses of Parliament. 2018-01-12.
  6. ^ "Post plan for 1957." Austrian Parliament. 2018-01-12.
  7. ^ "Government bill: Federal Law 1967, with which the Salary Transfer Act is again amended." Austrian Parliament. 2018-01-12.

literature

  • Franz Schnabl, Harald Seyrl: Emergency number 133 - 133 years Viennese police . Echo Verlag, Vienna 2002, ISBN 3-901761-18-7 .

Web links