Security in Vienna: FPÖ calls for more police before the election!

Security in Vienna: FPÖ calls for more police before the election!

Two months before the Vienna elections, there is a heated debate about the security situation in the capital. The Viennese FPÖ leader Dominik Nepp sharply criticizes Mayor Michael Ludwig (SPÖ), who, in his opinion, has done nothing to combat increasing gang crime in the last four years. According to Nepp, there have been calls for strengthening the police and a security guard for years, but the mayor has ignored them. Instead, major police stations were closed during the night while Ludwig caused a stir with PR campaigns. “There will only be real security for Vienna with the FPÖ!” says Nepp, who calls for a Soko youth gang and a decentralization of police stations in order to guarantee the security of Viennese people OTS reports.

Meanwhile, the police in Vienna believe they are well positioned. The state police chief Gerhard Pürstl rejects the FPÖ's demand for support from the armed forces. He emphasizes that the security situation in Vienna is under control and that deployment of the armed forces is not legally feasible. The Federal Army soldiers are only deployed for special tasks such as property guarding, and general reinforcement at patrol service level is not possible. Pürstl emphasizes the need for an objective discussion about security issues and warns against conducting the discussion in the context of the election campaign Salzburg24 reported. Despite the challenges in recent years, he highlights the police's successes in dealing with ethnic conflicts and integrating new citizens.