Vienna police chief opposes ‘multiculti’ patrols
Vienna police general Karl Mahrer has spoken out against a “multiculti police force” in the city.Referring to projects in Germany, Mahrer said today (Mon): “We dont want a multiculti police force in which groups of police officers of Turkish origin patrol the streets together.”Mahrer added: “Diversity means mixture. We can create a certain mixture by reducing inhibition thresholds which may hold many migrants back from applying for a job at the police.”The police general stressed he did not want a “two-class police”. Mahrer made it clear only Austrian citizens could apply to become police officers.He said: “It would be very bad, I think, if an applicant with a migration background does not sit the obligatory German test or gets more points for cultural experience or something similar.”Mahrers statements come on the back of revelations that more than four in 10 Viennese police academy applicants fail the language test. A spokeswoman for the police force in the city explained that the spelling skills of both Austrian applicants and those with a so-called migration background were “insufficient”.The police general also said today that residents of Vienna “must not fear anything or anyone”. Mahrer claimed pickpockets were the Austrian capitals sole security problem.Officials recently announced that 9,211 thefts were reported in Vienna in the first nine months of 2010, up sharply from 4,978 offences in the same period of the previous year.Overall 535,745 criminal acts were recorded across Austria last year, down by 9.4 per cent to 2009. With 32 per cent, police in Vienna have the lowest success rate in solving felonies among investigators in the countrys nine provinces.