Analytics, Latvia, Legislation, Security

The Latvian police force is suffering from severe shortage of labor, in particular in the capital city. Out of 800 existing vacancies, 500 are in the police precincts in Riga, and the situation gets worse with every year.

Back in 2012, the police administration of the Riga region reported a 12% shortage of policemen. This year it is already 17% in Riga and 11.4% throughout the country.

Due to the shortage of employees, existing police detectives have to cope with an increased workload which has negative effects on the quality of investigation. For example, an investigator in the Kurzeme precinct in Riga has to handle 500 criminal cases whereas in precincts that have full staff the average number of cases per investigator is 130.

"The police capacity is a serious problem," says Prosecutor General Eriks Kalnmeiers. When an investigator working on 200 cases quits, his cases have to be transferred to other detectives, who already have their hands full with own cases, he said.

About 900 people apply for work in the State Police annually but not all of them are found eligible, as the applicants have to pass a fitness test, among other things. Moreover, the Latvian National Armed Forces are also actively recruiting physically fit young people and the pay in the army is higher than in the police.