More than half of all police inspections in Vienna are aimed at limiting nighttime activities. It is planned that from October only 29 of the 81 police stations will be open for party traffic. The step is intended as a measure to reduce overtime.
All other inspections remained manned, but reports were no longer possible, according to an article in the daily newspaper ‘Kurier’. Surveillance rooms at neuralgic points such as Central Station or the Praterstern must remain open to party traffic. The report spoke of 35 hours of overtime per month, which is what a civil servant does on average.
Provincial police directorate silent
The directorate of the Vienna State Police would not confirm or deny the report. She emphasized to the APA that they are constantly trying to adapt the structures to the requirements of a large city. “This requires continuous further development and modernization in various areas of policing and the organizational framework,” it was announced. “Considerations about this are going in many directions”, but are not yet ready for a decision.
“Final inspections are no problem”
However, it was made clear that “closing police inspections is not a problem”. Addendum: “Measures that should have consequences for the population will of course be published in time.” In any case, the responsible technical committee of the staff representation has not yet been informed of such plans.
Mixed feelings at FCG and FSG
Employee representatives expressed mixed feelings about the possible move to the “Kurier”. In principle, he welcomes all measures that would relieve colleagues, Walter Strallhofer of the red FSG faction in the police union told the ‘Kurier’. At the same time, however, it is still unclear to what extent the additional load will affect the open stations. “The resources for the work remain the same, as the colleagues who man the radio car normally also handle the party traffic in the back office,” says Strallhofer.
FCG employee representative Franz Zauner followed the same line. According to the FCG man, the success of such a concept must first be proven in practice. Strallhofer also referred to the potential challenges in the technical design of the system and the question of whether an emergency call switch might need to be installed for inspections without nightly party traffic.
FPÖ has tabled a parliamentary question
The parliamentary group AUF affiliated with the FPÖ has sharply criticized the rumored measure. “Normal police work is already possible with only 30 percent overtime. If you really want to save overtime, this measure will not suffice,” says Werner Herbert, Viennese state president of the AUF.
He fears, among other things, further cuts in special patrols and gives an example: “In the course of the series of attacks on the homeless, we have strengthened the patrol service. That will no longer exist without compensatory measures in cross-inspections,” says Herbert. It is also unclear how such a concept would affect inspections without radio vehicles. “There is no permanent radio car present at about half of all inspections in Vienna. What do the colleagues who don’t have party traffic do?” says the HR representative. “It is obvious that these agents will then be deployed elsewhere to compensate for the extra workload.”
Herbert is now demanding clarification of the rumor plans. The staff representative, who also sits on the National Council for the FPÖ, announced on Wednesday a parliamentary question that had already been tabled.
Source: Krone
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