State criminal investigation office urgently needs more diesel investigators

N och always wafts of smoke from the diesel affair pass through Auto-Deutschland. Quite a few managers are sitting behind bars, the first cities are working on the implementation of driving bans and a recall echoes in the next. So you see: The scope of the whole emissions affair is enormous and VW is by no means the only culprit. In the Ländle, too, the evil Diesel spirit haunts the streets. Bosch, Daimler and Porsche are targeted by the Stuttgart authorities. The “Economic Crime” department of the Baden-Württemberg State Criminal Police Office has started investigations against the large corporations, but there is a problem, as the head of the Economic Crime Department, Thomas Lutz, explains to the German press agency (dpa): “Efforts are currently underway, personnel to be recruited in order to expand our investigative team on emissions fraud. ”

One million gigabytes of evidence

A year ago, for example, the Federal Motor Transport Authority had the three-liter V6 TDI in the Porsche Cayenne and Macan on the kieker. In a first recall in 2016, the 'thermal window' was removed via software update. Porsche currently no longer has any diesel on offer. So it doesn't help to hide behind the group siblings Audi, from whose plant the engines come. Here, too, it becomes clear: the whole thing is dragging on, and new details are constantly coming to light. The data volume of the evidence seized by the investigation team 'Nox' has already exceeded a petabyte. That's a million gigabytes.

And the data to be examined there is no easy feat. A lot of technical expertise is necessary to understand how engine controls, exhaust systems and defeat devices work. Especially when the second step is to uncover illegal manipulation. Currently between 15 and 20 people work in the special unit founded in 2016. According to the dpa, team leader Lutz believes that the investigation can be brought to a conclusion this year as unlikely. On average, it takes between two and five years to process a white-collar crime. 72 major proceedings are currently ongoing. And the smoke is getting even thicker: By next spring, 10 to 15 percent of law enforcement officers from Thomas Lutz's department will retire. An increase from within one's own ranks fails due to cautious interest in whether the complicated issue and recruiting suitable personnel externally is also difficultEndeavor.