Frustrated with endless waits for out-of-stock uniforms, police in the southern German state of Bavaria have taken an unusual step to draw attention to their plight.
In a video posted on YouTube and Instagram by the state branch of the German Police Union (DPolG), two officers sitting in a police vehicle ask each other: “How long are you waiting?” and they say four, actually six months respectively. After that, they get out of their BMW and show that they don’t have pants.
Jürgen Köhnlein, chairman of the Bavarian DPolG then addressed the problem directly, saying that what appears to be a bad April Fool’s joke is nothing to laugh at, equating the chronic shortage of uniforms with a lack of respect for officers.
“Bavarian police are ‘striping down’ and could literally be standing without pants,” says Köhlein, who highlights the fact that waiting times for as many as 21 different uniforms – such as caps, jackets and trousers – can be months long if they are available at all.
The union calls on the Ministry of the Interior to urgently solve the problem, even if it means additional costs, noting that since 2020 there has been almost no talk of deficiencies in the quality of uniforms, but rather a deficiency in the availability of uniforms.
A Ministry of Interior spokesman acknowledged the problem on Wednesday, pointing to disruptions in the supply chain.
Government officials say they will now take over the delivery logistics themselves after the procurement was left to private companies. “Bottlenecks” in supply, as the office of the Ministry of the Interior said, particularly affected specialty trousers such as multi-purpose summer trousers.
Representatives of the Ministry of the Interior pointed to the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine as further factors negatively affecting supply and delivery and claimed that a new logistics center would be operational in Bavaria by 2030, making the force less dependent on external suppliers.
Despite the problem, the Ministry said that the state police are in no way prevented from performing their duties, adding that other elements of the uniform can be used when certain parts are not available.
Union president Jürgen Köhnlein was less nonchalant.
“At the moment it remains unclear whether the situation will improve or continue to deteriorate. What impression new recruits get when they are forced to complete training in ‘civilian clothes’ rather than being given a uniform.”, Klix.ba reports.
E.Dz.
