The number of police officers in the north has decreased, though the force relies on a wider recruitment plan to grow its ranks.  Library photo: Sebastien Goossens

The number of police officers in the north has decreased, though the force relies on a wider recruitment plan to grow its ranks.  Library photo: Sebastien Goossens

The number of active police officers in the northern region of Luxembourg has decreased from 184 to 179, with only one agent scheduled to join in the near future.

In answer to a parliamentary question about the increasingly thin security coverage of the north, minister of internal security Henri Kox (Déi Gréng) on 31 December confirmed the number of police agents working up north went down. From the 179 registered, ten are dispatched elsewhere, he added. Four are currently on longterm sick leave, while six cannot do field work due to health reasons. 

Kox reassured that there were at least nine operational patrols in that area during the day, while at night and on weekends, there is a minimum of five. He added that sometimes, during special services, the minimum of patrols can’t always be guaranteed. 

And though only one police agent will be added to the force--in Ettelbrück--the grand duchy’s police received 735 applications for the 200 posts it advertised in the second phase of its three-year-long recruitment plan.