Baby boomers retiring, different life plans among young people, the corona pandemic and, last but not least, job requirements that are becoming increasingly difficult for many to meet: the domestic police have had difficulties in recruiting enough new recruits in recent years. Those responsible responded with a recruitment campaign, and it seems to be bearing fruit: in the first half of the year, around 10,000 people applied for a job in the police force.
“An all-time high”
“I am looking forward to soon having the 40,000th employee in the department,” said Karl Hutter, head of the Presidential Section (I) in the Ministry of the Interior, who is responsible for personnel issues, in a conversation with journalists. “32,635 of them are police officers, an all-time high.” Hutter readily admitted that not everyone who applies is accepted into the police academy, but pointed out that the acceptance rate has improved significantly, especially because of some of the relaxations in the criteria. “When I started, the rate was 1:7, i.e. one out of every seven applicants was accepted. Now it is 1:3, 1:4.”
Relaxation of tattoo regulations
On the one hand, this is because some of the things that used to be required prior to admission are now done during training, such as the swimming test. According to Hutter, the relaxation of the tattoo regulations has brought a lot of benefits. “That was a real showstopper.” Previously, prospective police officers were not allowed to have visible tattoos, which the head of department said was no longer appropriate. A tattoo is now only a reason for exclusion if “it indicates membership of a group that endangers the constitution or if it is likely to undermine the public’s trust in the objective performance of the intended official duties,” as the application requirements state. There are also incentives such as a free climate ticket, bonuses when officers bring applicants, or in Vienna the opportunity to get a cheap starter apartment.
3,000 new applicants in Vienna alone
More than 3,000 of the 10,000 applications in the first half of the year came from the federal capital, which means that the numbers have almost tripled compared to the same period last year. This is something that the Viennese police urgently need, because the city’s police force is losing around 180 to 190 officers every year due to the baby boomers who are now retiring, and that will continue until 2028, explained Vienna’s police chief Gerhard Pürstl. There are currently around 7,200 officers on duty in the federal capital. They have to deal with a good third of the crime rate across Austria. In addition, this year – the election year – there will be around 20,000 meetings as well as numerous sporting and other major events. The headquarters of many international organizations and all diplomatic missions are located in Vienna. “The big city is a security police challenge,” emphasized Pürstl, pointing to hotspots in the rural districts, especially Favoriten, Ottakring, Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus and Floridsdorf.
The population in the federal capital has also grown significantly in recent years due to immigration and is now approaching the two million mark. Many of the immigrants have brought with them cultural peculiarities from their countries of origin that were not so common in Central Europe. “Life takes place much more in public spaces,” said Pürstl. According to the police chief, this also leads to more publicly visible conflicts. In this context, he referred to the recent ethnic conflicts between people of Syrian and Afghan descent on the one hand and Chechen descent on the other.
“An international top value”
In level one operations – such as the almost fatal stabbing in Favoriten at the weekend – the response time of the Vienna police is two minutes, “an international record,” as Pürstl noted. “But one thing is clear: we need more police and then everything will be fine – of course that is not the case.” The police cannot significantly influence the causes of criminal behavior, but are dependent on cooperation with their partners – for example families, social organizations and authorities, schools. “If education and employment are there, a lot has already been achieved.”
“But I would be a bad president if I didn’t want more staff,” said Pürstl. The issue is the burden on civil servants. Overtime is a particular criterion. However, not all overtime is the same, Hutter and Vienna’s police chief admitted. They conducted a survey of employees, according to which overtime itself is not such a problem, “but the unforeseen ones are.” Pürstl was more specific: “When you find out at 5 p.m. at the office that you have to stay overnight.”
“No high drop-out rate”
However, the drop-out rate among police officers is not as high as reported in the media: “In the first half of this year, 105 officers quit their jobs. Including police cadets,” said Hutter.
The Vienna police chief responded to criticism from other quarters, such as district heads in the federal capital, who repeatedly complain that there are too few officers in the offices in their district. “Operations in a district do not have to be handled by the district forces alone, they are also supported by other units,” stressed Pürstl. There is the police dog unit, the Vienna Emergency Operations Group (WEGA), the Street Crime Control Unit (EGS), the public order police units (EE) and the standby unit (BE), “which we use as we need them at the time.” As was the case with the stabbing in Favoriten: “There were not district forces who were the first on the scene, but an EE unit.”
Both top officials had one wish for politicians, regardless of who forms the government after the National Council elections in September and which Interior Minister will sit in Herrengasse: “The recruitment campaign must definitely continue.”