The weapon search engine is hot – Switzerland: Standard



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"My pictures eg Now I locked myself in the bathroom and he threatens me with death .. Please help me … quick." An emergency call, because it belongs to the police of everyday life. The police must move but do not know exactly what to expect. To what extent is the situation threatening? How is the ex-spouse dangerous? In the worst case, he is armed and could also be dangerous for the forces. Therefore, good planning is part of a successful police operation. The question of the possible possession of weapons by the suspect is therefore a central element.

Until recently, the interrogations covered the registers of arms of the various cantons. Often, the information had to be obtained by fax or telephone. Precious time spent. Since January 2017, the police has an instrument facilitating its work. And makes it safer. In seconds, the online query of the register of weapons (OAWR) spits out valuable data: If the person questioned is in possession of a license to carry weapons, what weapon does it possess, what is the caliber. The former beaten husband can be x-rayed in a flash, even though he no longer lives in the same township as his ex-wife.

"A precious instrument"

The database is hot. "We have about 280,000 queries a month," says Ulrich Vogler, OAWR Operations Manager. This is well over 9,000 daily requests, which are obtained by the cantonal police and police departments of major cities. But federal authorities, the Fedpol, border guards and the military police are also actively using the offer. "The combination of weapons registers has fundamentally brought an improvement to our work," said Fedpol spokeswoman Lulzana Musliu. Inquiries from abroad also come from Fedpol. If, for example, weapons are found after an attempt, it is possible to determine if the weapon is registered in Switzerland.

The Secretary General of the Swiss Police Association, Max Hoffmann, is even more explicit: "The information is power." Although it can quantify the security gains of the new database: "But it's a valuable tool for local police. "How many times the individual police authorities access the database can not be declared by Vogler." Vogler also explains the high number of queries with the fact that several queries are made on the same person: "Often, the system requires even more detailed personal information, or the spelling of the name is not clear and must be opened with several requests. "[19659002] Misleading Security

Should Not the Many Inquiries to be suspicious, at least from the point of view of data protection? "We were consulted during the legislative process and there is no reason to intervene here," said Silvia Böhlen, spokesperson of the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Information, Bruno Baeriswyl, Data Protection Commissioner of the Canton of Zurich: "The different registers for weapons are regulated detailed in the Federal Firearms Act. "

The newly acquired security for the police on the ground may also be misleading. The database is far from complete. The purchase of a weapon should be reported to the authorities since 2008. In addition, the weapons of the army are not registered. The sovereignty of the data is still with the cantons, emphasizes the director of OAWR Vogler, so we could not speak also of a central register of arms. It is simply a matter of networking the cantonal databases. The value of the dataset of about 870,000 entries for weapons, which is meanwhile registered in the OAWR, and which is distributed to about 280,000 owners , must be relativized for another reason. There are many more guns and rifles in circulation. In 2013, the Federal Council predicted that more than two million guns would be in circulation in Swiss households during the revision of the weapons law. Even the abusive ex-husband of the woman seeking help could escape the radar of the online request of the gun registry, for example, when he had inherited a rifle from his uncle who died in 2005.

No central register

The positive experiences of the PS national councilor, Chantal Galladé, a fighter from the beginning for a central arms registry: "But as long as the arms lobby in Parliament is so strongly represented, no chance. " Necessary in their eyes, the re-registration before 2008 Weapons distributed and the registration of those of the army. The deliberations on the planned adaptation of the weapons law to the new EU directives clearly indicate a different direction. A central gun registry is no longer a problem, although the Federal Council has planned this in the context of the revision. But after the massive criticism of shooting associations and bourgeois parties, he had to crawl.

This does not help that those affected receive a central registry of weapons. Thus, the Police Commanders' Conference emphasizes that a centralized and uniformly managed system would be very effective: "Any knowledge of gun ownership is essential in terms of maintaining order, in particular, preparation and assessment of situations. "Galladé assumes that change must be done by initiative. But even the most complete database can not afford one thing: if the ex-spouse gets a gun illegally, the authorities may not know it. Never.

(Tages-Anzeiger)

created: 19.07.2018, 19:33

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