[ad_1]
The terrorist attack in the center of Vienna triggered a large-scale police operation. “They are all on duty,” said a Vienna police spokeswoman.
These included the EKO Cobra, the WEGA, the service dog squad and the reserve unit.
Below is a brief summary of some of the special units involved:
the Einsatzkommando Cobra special unit (Directorate of Special Forces) grew out of the Einsatzkommando Gendarmerie founded in 1978. The Cobra now has units stationed in almost every federal state with a total of about 450 officers.
With the reform of the state police in 2002, Eko Cobra took over personal security services throughout Austria. Other tasks for the Cobra are hostage situations, riot, aircraft assault, cross-border situations, arrest of serious criminals, technical operations and protection of Austrian missions.
the Vienna Working Group Alarm Department (WEGA) It is the Viennese special unit of the security service. The approximately 250 officers are stationed in the Rossau barracks and have to deal with entrenched people, suicides, raids and searches where resistance is expected, high-risk arrests, other operations where resistance is expected, operations, officers with training in rope technology they require operations that require officers with police diver training, the disbanding of squat riot troops as part of the Great Service for Security and Order (GSOD), and the protection of property of facilities particularly at risk.
In addition to WEGA, the special units in Vienna also include Service Dog Department. The troop is stationed in Vienna-Floridsdorf and has around 100 animals and their dog handlers in action.
the Vienna emergency unit It has existed since 2012. In addition to a few permanently assigned, mostly senior officers, there are young police officers who pass through the unit for six months after their training before returning to the police stations.
The main tasks of the reserve unit are overlapping patrol and surveillance duty, special and priority actions, peaceful low-threshold events of the Great Service for Security and Order (GSOD) and search, aid and rescue operations.
