The operational protocol of the night of terror in Vienna: 540 emergency calls in an hour

Around 550 police officers meet on average on a normal night in Vienna. Following the November 2 terrorist attack, there were around 1,000 with four dead and more than 20 injured. About 150 officers volunteered to help.

The first emergency call about the terrorist attack was received at exactly 8 pm 48 seconds. “Shooting at Seitenstettengasse,” reported a witness who lives nearby. As of 9 pm alone, there were 539 more calls to the police emergency number, the night before there were 104 emergency calls in the same period.

The situation of the mobile terrorist, a murderer who moves in the Bermuda Triangle of the federal capital, was the worst case for the police.

The so-called phase of chaos began: this is what the first minutes of a special situation are called when the background is still not clear and everything is open. At that time, six officials received emergency calls at the Vienna state control center. “There were more and more emergency calls every second, of course we were all under extreme pressure,” Inspector Thomas F. recalled in an interview with the APA over the weekend. He first took the calls to 133 and 112 and then acted as a dispatcher. “The shots are reported to the emergency number every day; mostly they are firecrackers or general false reports. That is why we assumed a periodic investigation of dangers from the beginning. But when the reports about shots were repeated every second, we quickly realized that we were ourselves moving towards a state of emergency, “added his colleague, Revierinspektor Christian H ..

For the police it was a very dynamic situation. The APA was able to inspect the operational record of the state control center. Accordingly, the mission received priority 1 as early as January 8, 2010 and the first patrol car was dispatched around the same time. At 20.01.23 pm, a citizen reported an exchange of fire with a shotgun at Schwedenplatz. At 20:02:21 pm, 15 patrols, including Wega officials, were heading to the crime scene. Eight vehicles from the Wega sector were regularly on patrol duty Monday night, with two officers always seated in them.

On March 20 and 21, the police officers had their first contact with the 20-year-old perpetrator, when it was still not clear that it was a terrorist situation. In front of a bar on Seitenstettengasse, two officers from the Laurenzerberg Police Station spotted the attacker and intervened. There was the first exchange of shots. The 28-year-old policeman was seriously injured. “I met a colleague,” it said on the radio on 04/20/48.

Almost at the same time as the first contact with the aggressor, at 20.03.22 pm, an officer found the first person injured. A first description of the perpetrator was available on 05/20/12; witnesses report that the terrorist is wearing a black hooded jacket, which later turned out to be incorrect. Time and time again very different and contradictory perceptions were given.

At 20.05.30 hours it was reported for the first time that the aggressor was firing with an automatic weapon. It became clear that this was an absolutely exceptional situation, a supposedly special situation. The first report on a seriously injured person was received on 6/20/43. The next exchange of fire with the police took place on 7/20/41, this time in the Morzinplatz area. The police helicopter arrived around the same time at 7:20:59 pm At 8:20:31 pm, the assailant was seen in the Ruprechtskirche area, at the same time that new shots were reported. At 20.09.42 the message “A criminal with STG 77” was arrested. The killer was hunted.

But the reports about an armed perpetrator continued, such an emergency call was registered around 11.20.29 pm At 12.20.29 pm there were the first reports of people who had barricaded themselves in bars; countless people followed that afternoon and that night. Starting at 8:13:49 pm, the control center instructed callers to stay inside. At 8:14:04 pm the message arrived that it was not known for sure if there were other perpetrators. At 8:17:11 pm it was said that there was a person with a red light visor in the tree in the Ruprechtsstiege; it was probably a police officer.

Many parallel operations began 18 minutes after the attack began. Everything later turned out to be fake news. But of course the police had to take all those emergency calls seriously. At 8:18:31 pm it was reported that a lifeless person was found near the city park. At the same time, injuries and deaths were reported in more and more places. At 8:21:17 p.m., the chief of operations informed the police that the dead killer was wearing an explosives belt. This later turned out to be silly.

The next big side operation took place at 8.27.55 pm – there was a report of suspicious people on the roof of a house in the city. At 8:39:01 pm, a rescue station was set up in Franz-Josefs-Kai. 30 minutes after the attack began, at 8.30.39 p.m., a witness reported that he had a video of a perpetrator.

Witnesses continually reported on the emergency call that they had seen the perpetrator (s). Due to the chaotic situation, many policemen were also perceived as possible terrorists. About 150 police officers were commissioned Monday night. At 8.47.49 pm the radio message was given that plainclothes police officers should wear a yellow safety vest.

Countless parallel assignments followed. The alleged perpetrators were seen and reported, among others, on the Hoher Markt, in court, in a pub or in the basement of restaurants. At 8.45.33 pm it was said, for example: “Shooting in the Tuchlauben”. At 9:30 pm someone reported a hostage situation in a restaurant on Mariahilfer Strasse. At 9.49.05 pm, suspected suspects with long weapons were seen in the subway. There were also emergency calls from various districts about alleged shooting. All these side missions turned out to be false reports, but they paralyzed many emergency services.

The special situation posed a huge challenge not only for dispatchers at the state control center. The Viennese police receive 3,000 to 4,000 emergency calls every day, leading to 1,100 to 1,200 operations. There were 540 emergency calls on November 2 between 8:00 pm and 9:00 pm

“In the chaos of the first few minutes it is more difficult, but at the same time more important, to keep an overview. With hundreds of emergency calls, dozens of patrol units and information changing every second, this is of course an exception. absolute, “recalled the district inspector of operations and emergency calls Christian H. Weekend in front of the APA. “Many of the radio station colleagues were under power for hours; it only got a little quieter at midnight for the first time,” added colleague Thomas F.

The following is a list of selected entries from the November 2, 2020 State Control Center Implementation Log (time in hours, minutes, and seconds):