Shortly before completing her training at the Graz Police Academy, a 27-year-old police cadet was dismissed from the force and came under the scrutiny of the Provincial Office for State Security and Countering Extremism (LSE). As reported by the newspaper Kronen Zeitung, the authority carried out a raid on behalf of the Graz Public Prosecutor’s Office. The woman is suspected of being a member of a terrorist organisation.
According to the investigation, the officer in question is alleged to have repeatedly drawn attention to herself during the training course through remarks that run counter to the core values of the police force. Among other things, she is accused of having attempted, during lessons, to recruit people for the terrorist organisation IS. Furthermore, she is alleged to have stated that she would not enforce certain legal requirements whilst on duty and that she did not wish to work with male colleagues outdoors in the future. According to the report, the accused herself described the incidents as “light-hearted banter”.
The incident quickly triggered political reactions. FPÖ security spokesman Gernot Darmann sharply criticised the conditions under which these individuals were recruited:
Anyone who squanders citizenship and turns a blind eye to police recruitment out of misguided tolerance is fostering a security risk in uniform.
Federal Police Director Michael Takàcs emphasised to the newspaper Krone that the police pursue a clear zero-tolerance policy towards anti-democratic attitudes. Behaviour that contradicts fundamental principles such as equality and the separation of faith and profession will not be tolerated. The data storage devices analysed following the house search are now in the hands of the judicial authorities.