Four in 10 police applicants fail fitness check
Almost half of young Austrians applying to become police officers in Vienna fail the mandatory fitness test, it has emerged.Vienna police said today (Fri) around four out of 10 applicants did not pass the fitness check, and that the basic German skills test was also a stumbling block for many wannabe police officers.The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) announced earlier this year that almost six in 10 Austrian men and more than four out of 10 women were overweight.Officials said that the share of female applicants soared from just 12 per cent in 2009 to 35 per cent this year. They also pointed out that only one in 14 contenders have a migration background.The citys police academy receives almost 300 applications a month.Vienna police general Karl Mahrer has hailed a recent recruitment drive as a success, while some attacked the citys police over the poster campaign. The posters feature slogans such as “Gerechtigkeit” (Justice) and “Schutz” (Protection).Critics claimed it would have been a better idea to send more officers on patrol in the citys many crime hotspots instead of spending thousands of Euros on such advertisement.