High school diploma, but no “Muckis”: Of 17 applicants for the police academy, 12 are said to have recently failed the required push-ups (men have to do 21, women 9). The result: the police are running out of officers.
But not only a lack of fitness is an issue, but also spelling and grammar, where it throws most of the future police officers out of the curve. “If I look at our requirements beforehand, I can train towards them in a targeted manner,” says State Police Director Andreas Pilsl, annoyed at the morale of some applicants. Mainly men as applicants For a while, just as many women as men applied, since the refugee crisis and terrorist attacks two-thirds of the candidates are now male. The proportion of migrants is more than manageable, only two to three non-German-speaking parents per course with 28 police students.Difficult search The training offensive prescribed by politicians also poses problems for the executive in Upper Austria, police chief Pilsl confirms: “In the past three years, we have hired 200 new people each. We have now reached the ceiling and have to compete with large companies such as Fronius, which are looking for 2,000 employees. In the Innviertel, too, we have strong competition from strong companies.” In total, around 4,500 people, including administration, currently work for the police in Upper Austria, a historic high.
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