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This year, the canton police in St. Gallen 20 notifications received. Considerably more than in previous years.
There is a desperate search for police officers in St. The posts in Goldach, Wittenbach, Oberriet and Walenstadt are currently closed due to lack of staff, as “FM1” writes. By the deadline of August 10, 2022, the cantonal police in St. Gallen reported twice as many departures as in a normal year – 30 in number. 20 of them are redundancies. What is happening?
The commander, Bruno Zanga, made it clear in an interview with TVO: “Most of them are simply fed up with this job and want to change something in their lives.” The staff walk on the gums. “The burdens were probably just too big.” The canton police in St. Gallen accepts that their employees will work an entire week too much this year. But Zanga emphasizes: “The employer is not the problem.”
10 to 15 positions are advertised
For Dominik Gemperli, President of the St. Gallen Canton Police Association, the new payroll system “NeLo” is partly responsible for the wave of layoffs. It has been in force since 2019 in the canton of St. Galls. The opponents criticize that experience and previous performance should no longer be worth anything.
“One should not underestimate the salary range. The dissatisfaction among young police officers is very high,” says Gemperli. Zanga agrees. Frequent weekend assignments and increasing aggressiveness towards the police are further grounds for dismissal.
It is said that 10 to 15 positions are currently being advertised. The lack of staff can have noticeable consequences for the population. “It may be that we no longer fulfill certain tasks. It would no longer be possible to move out immediately in the event of a noise complaint,” explains Zanga. Politicians are also worried. SVP Cantonal Council member Sandro Wasserfallen says to “FM1”: “This is definitely not in the spirit of a safe canton of St. Gallen.”
“Dissatisfaction is on the rise”
Many other cantons are also familiar with personnel issues. “We also feel the lack of skilled workers at the Lucerne police – recruitment is correspondingly more demanding,” writes media spokesperson Urs Wigger on Blick. “At the moment we have enough people, but it will certainly not be easier to find suitable people,” says Hanspeter Saxer, media spokesperson of the cantonal police in Appenzell Ausserrhoden.
Matthias Graf, media spokesman for the Thurgau cantonal police, adds: “The already high burden and dissatisfaction is increasing. In 2022 and 2021 there were more layoffs than in previous years.” The same photo in the canton of Zurich. Last year, 36 notices were given. In the past five years, the average was 22. The cantonal police in Bern writes of a “slight undermeasure”.
Police posts re-occupied from 23 October
A welcome exception is the cantonal police in Aargau. “Apart from the retirement, we see fewer members of the corps leaving than usual,” writes Bernhard Graser, the deputy chief of communications.
And there is also a positive police report in St. Gallen: From October 23, the currently closed police posts will be occupied again, as police spokesman Pascal Häderli said at the request of the Keystone-SDA news agency. However, the discussion about the reasons for the closure is probably not off the table yet. If the burden does not change in the longer term, the next wave of layoffs is likely to begin soon.
