In the emergency call center of the police, an average of ten employees are missing in each shift Photo: DAVIDS/Boillot
By Axel Lier
Emergency call center in need! Bad working hours, hardly any parking spaces and a mentally tough desk job in an open-plan office for a long time – the police operations control and situation center (ELZ) has a massive personnel problem.
308 officials are supposed to work there, who take 1.34 million calls a year. But only 266 jobs are occupied, 48 of whom are on sick leave.
“On average, ten employees are currently missing when a shift starts,” the police conceded when asked by the BZ. The sickness rate is 18 percent.
An “immediate need for action on the part of the management of the authorities” was recognized, according to an internal police letter. The support is important “in order to be perceived as a reliable and professional authority in the population in the future”.
Now 48 police officers from Directorates 1-5 and the Operations Directorate are to be transferred to the ELZ – on a voluntary basis. “Four employees per week until the number of 48 is reached,” said a police spokesman. The officials should stay there for at least two years.
“The working conditions in the ELZ are precarious,” says Jörn Badendick from the “Independent” police professional association. “After no volunteers have been found, most of the colleagues are forced to go there against their will.”
Such an approach is what Badendick describes as a “squire’s way”. According to experience, this leads to new staff absences, sometimes due to illness, and does not change the situation even in the short term.