Police launch five-year recruitment scheme for Vienna

Police in Austria will begin a new recruitment drive in December allowing applicants from all federal states to work in Vienna for five years, including their training, before either staying in the capital or returning to their home state, ORF reports.

The first recruits will join in December 2026. After completing their training, the first officers are expected to become available to Vienna from December 2028.

The scheme, called “Vienna on a temporary basis”, is intended to increase police recruitment, Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said in a statement on Saturday. It is expected to provide more security personnel for Vienna in the short term and for Austria as a whole in the medium term.

The initiative follows a shortage of applicants for some police training places in Vienna, while more candidates in the federal states qualify for police service than can be hired there.

Participants will have the option of extending their assignment voluntarily for another two years. A permanent transfer to Vienna will also be possible for officers who choose it for personal or professional reasons.

The programme is also intended to give some of Vienna’s approximately 500 police officers waiting to transfer to another federal state a clearer perspective. Because of staffing needs in Vienna, such transfers are currently rare and waiting times vary by federal state.

At least 10 percent of the number of officers recruited through the scheme are expected to be transferred from existing waiting lists to the federal states. The Interior Ministry said this would strengthen staffing levels outside Vienna while creating a clearer path for officers waiting to leave the capital.