Vienna police drastically reduce night operations

This was reported by the “Kurier” in its Wednesday edition. As a result, it is planned that from October only 29 of 81 police stations will be open to party traffic. The step is a measure to reduce overtime, the report said. The Vienna State Police Directorate did not want to confirm or deny the report when asked by APA.

All other inspections remained manned, but it was no longer possible to report them, according to the article in the daily newspaper. Guard rooms at neuralgic points such as the main station or the Praterstern should remain open to party traffic. The report spoke of 35 overtime hours per month, which a civil servant does on average.

The State Police Directorate emphasized to the APA on Wednesday that they are constantly trying to adapt the structures to the requirements of a big city. “This requires constant further development and modernization in various areas of police work and the organizational framework,” it was announced. “Considerations in this regard go in many directions,” but are not yet ready for a decision. However, it was made clear that “closing police inspections is not an issue”. Addendum: “Measures that should affect the population will of course be published in a timely manner.”

HR representatives have ‘mixed feelings’

Personnel representatives expressed mixed feelings about the possible step to the “Kurier”. In principle, he welcomes all measures that would relieve colleagues, said Walter Strallhofer from the red FSG faction in the police union to the “Kurier”. At the same time, however, it is still unclear to what extent the additional load will affect the open stations. “The work resources remain the same, since the colleagues who man the radio truck normally also take care of the party traffic in the back office,” says Strallhofer. FCG staff representative Franz Zauner took 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 possible challenges in the technical design of the system and the question of whether an emergency call switch might have to be installed at the inspections without night party traffic. An APA request to the FPÖ-affiliated UP group about the plans discussed was still open in the morning.