© Jeannot Ries
Within one afternoon, 400 candidates attended the open day for the police school near Findel, all in the hopes of securing one of the 200 spots available for the 2024 promotion.
Police expansion
As part of the government's promises of law and order, the Prime Minister stated in his State of the Nation speech this week that the government will increase the number of candidates per promotional round from 160 to 200. A pilot project for a "local police unit" will also be launched this summer in the two major cities of the country, Luxembourg City and Esch-sur-Alzette,
"Local police unit," but no specific recruitment
No additional officers will be recruited for the "local police unit" pilot project in Luxembourg City and in Esch-sur-Alzette. Instead, current police officers from the respective police stations will be assigned to specific missions.
200 new officiers in 2024
The training will last two years for new recruits. The first year will be spent at the police school, which includes firearms training. The second year will partly involve field internships and assignments at police stations.
People think that all police officers are out on the field, says the Police Central Director of Resources and Skills Francis Lutgen. However, the job of a police officer ranges from traffic police, to dog handlers, from judicial police to helicopter crews.
There is no shortage of candidates for all these roles. But how many of them will actually make the cut in the next promotion? Candidates can expect several hurdles, particularly concerning the selection process.
“There are those who have no problems with language tests and there are those who have no problems with the physical tests. We recruit the ones who have no problems with either. The final hurdle is the interview, where we really talk to the candidates as a jury and get a sense of their motivation to become a police officer,” says Lutgen.
During the open day, candidates get a first glimpse at the physical test course and assess their physical fitness. Only one out of three stayed within the time limit.
Jérôme Alff, a sports instructor at the police academy, says, “most people underestimate the test.”
Not only men and women in uniform are recruited
"I myself started on August 1, 2018 in human resources. At the time, we were 2,300 people. Today, we have 3,250 people. This shows how much the police has grown. In the civilian sector, we have roughly doubled from 350 to 700. The civilian sector is very, very diverse. We have everything from secretaries to biologists and mechanics. Many people work in IT. So, it’s very broad. We post our job announcements on GovJobs, where you can find the individual vacancies,” explained Francis Lutgen.
Watch the report in Luxembourgish:
