Image: (APA/BMI/J.MAKOWECZ)
With the exception of the city of Vienna, the surveillance area of the new Lower Austrian police boat “Limes”, which was officially put into service in Bad Deutsch Altenburg on Friday, extends from the state border with Slovakia in the east and to the Wallsee-Mitterkirchen run-of-river power plant near Amstetten in the west . This is 226 kilometers on the Danube. There are also six kilometers on the March.
Night vision and thermal imaging camera
“Limes” is used by the water police as a control vehicle and, according to the Ministry of the Interior, is also equipped with a night vision and thermal imaging camera and searchlights. The approximately ten meter long boat is approved for up to twelve people. With 558 hp, it reaches a top speed of 56 km/h.
The tasks of the water police include, among other things, monitoring watercraft to prevent and combat specific and cross-border crimes, increasing the safety of shipping and transport, monitoring compliance with shipping regulations and search and search measures. The high-tech boat was built by Österreichische Schiffswerften AG (ÖSWAG) in Linz.
Search operations, surveillance, controls
“Police operations on international waterways such as the Danube are diverse and demanding. Search operations, monitoring of events, shipping controls, but also operations in the area near the Slovakia border require modern and up-to-date equipment,” emphasized Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP). The electricity not only connects the economy and trade, but also tourism, said Governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner (ÖVP), who acted as godmother of the “Limes”.
For Federal Police Director Michael Takacs, it is important that criminal and foreign police checks can also be carried out properly on the Danube. State police director Franz Popp expressed the wish that there should be “less challenging operations”.
Source: Nachrichten
