07.01.2026 19:41
In Austria, a police officer unlawfully opened the locker of a female colleague to access her personal data. After it was determined that the officer had examined erotic photos belonging to the colleague for approximately eight minutes, legal action was initiated against him, and he was fined a substantial amount.
A police officer in Austria secretly opened the locker of his female colleague to access her personal data. The officer, who examined his colleague's erotic photos for eight minutes, was fined heavily.
The Austrian police are shaken by a shocking case of "violation of privacy." A police officer on duty accessed the personal digital data of a female colleague he worked with in the same unit by opening her locked locker with a spare key and viewed it on the office computer.
OPENED WITH A SPARE KEY
According to a report by Heute newspaper, the victim, a female police officer going through a divorce, kept her hard drive containing sensitive photos in her locked locker at work. However, her male colleague, who claimed he "gave in to curiosity," opened the locker with a spare key. The officer who took the hard drive began to examine his colleague's erotic photos on the workplace computer.
LOOKED AT PHOTOS FOR 8 MINUTES
The detail the officer did not consider was that the system automatically recorded all entries. Investigations proved that the officer illegally accessed the data for a full eight minutes between 09:32 and 09:40 in the morning. Following the revelation of the scandal, a disciplinary investigation was initiated against the officer.
"I MADE A BIG FOOLISHNESS"
The police officer who appeared before the Federal Disciplinary Board confessed to his crime. Describing the incident as "a big foolishness," the officer claimed he was "interested" in his colleague's photos and could not control his curiosity. However, the court panel evaluated this act not as "a slight curiosity," but as a violation of public service regulations and misuse of official resources.
HEAVY FINE
Authorities ruled that this act, which seriously undermined trust in the police, carried "criminal intent." The board imposed a fine of 10,800 euros (approximately 350,000 TL) on the police officer. The officer, who narrowly escaped being dismissed from the profession, was given a stern warning that "if he makes a similar mistake again, he will immediately lose his job."