Accordingly, a six-month training program will start in June 2024 for 60 applicants. The first property protection police officers are scheduled to start in December 2024, the ministry said.
The project is intended to relieve the burden on the Vienna police when it comes to guarding embassies and particularly sensitive buildings, according to Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) and Federal Police Director Michael Takacs. Property protection in Vienna is currently carried out almost exclusively on an overtime basis. Karner and Takacs also emphasized that the guarding and protection of sensitive facilities has gained new relevance since the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on October 7th of the previous year.
Most important police competencies
The six-month short training covers the most important core competencies for police officers. “If a property protection police officer sees a handbag robbery while he is working, he will be able to file the report himself and arrest the perpetrator,” the Federal Police Director gave an example. “But he won’t be able to handle the case himself,” said Takacs. He also explained that the members of the property protection police would also be equipped with handcuffs.
The selection process for the property protection force is basically analogous to that for the uniformed patrol service, “but includes different performance parameters,” explained Takacs. If you want to switch to regular patrol service, you have to go through the admissions process again, but individual modules can be credited, according to the Interior Ministry.
Same uniforms as patrol officers
The property guards also receive the same uniforms as patrol officers. “These are police officers just like everyone else,” said Takacs. According to the Federal Police Director, they consciously “don’t want to divide people up.” “We are a family.” During the media event, Takacs referred to the German capital Berlin as a model for the project. They have already had good experiences with property protection police there. In addition, the considerations were based on the existing border police, it was said. An application is already possible now.
Last September, the Ministry of Defense extended the security police assistance mission to guard objects in Vienna until March 2024. When asked who should fill the gap in the period from March 2024 until the start of the property protection police in December, Karner said: “The assistance mission of the The Federal Army will run as long as it is necessary.”
Criticism from the unions
Criticism came from the blue police unionAuf on Tuesday. AUF federal chairman Werner Herbert described the project as a “necessity due to the situation” and spoke of a delayed start. In a ministerial draft dated September 12th available to the APA, the earliest possible start to training from December 1st, 2023 and the earliest possible deployment of the object protection force from July 1st, 2024 were previously planned. It is questionable whether a property protection officer could in practice report and arrest a handbag snatcher nearby. “The question will be how security activity is affected by this,” Herbert told the APA. “I think that’s rather problematic,” said Herbert.
The Social Democratic Trade Union Group also struck a similar tone. The Vienna state chairman Walter Strallhofer emphasized: “Vienna needs 100 percent trained police officers. The job profile in the federal capital alone requires that.” But we are fundamentally grateful for every measure that relieves the burden on staff, said Strallhofer. Postscript: “Even if it has to be noted that the Ministry of the Interior has missed the fact that the baby boomer generation is retiring for more than 20 years.” In contrast, the Christian Trade Union Group (FCG) emphasized that it welcomed the project.
2,500 new police trainees in 2024
During the press conference on Tuesday, Karner also emphasized that there are plans to recruit 2,500 police students across Austria this year. “That’s a bold goal,” said Karner. However, this is necessary and entirely possible. The Ministry of the Interior was able to significantly boost the number of applicants through the training and recruiting reform launched last year. In this context, reference was made to the number of applicants compared from 2022 to 2023. Karner said that these had increased by almost 20 percent. “The chosen path of the admission offensive will continue in 2024,” said the Interior Minister.
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