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Due to the corona pandemic, the Federal Council wants to extend the service from 12 to 14 years. Therefore, there should be enough members of the civil defense available.
Recently, the length of service for civil defense members was reduced to 12 years in a legal review.
However, in the crown crisis, civil protection officers are also needed in individual cantons, for example, for “contact tracing,” that is, tracing the contacts of people who have tested positive.
Recruitment is dropping
Because the number of civil defense recruits has also been declining for years, the cantons now fear that there will soon be too few civil defense officers available.
Therefore, the Federal Council now wants to extend the length of service by two years, from 12 to 14 years. As a precautionary measure, the federal government had incorporated the possibility of this extension into the new law. It should definitely be approved in mid-November.
This should ensure that there are still enough people available for civil defense next year.
The extension was carried out in close consultation with the cantons, says Christoph Flury, deputy director of the Federal Office for Civil Protection. This in view of the possible “second wave”.
10,000 additional people
The Federal Office for Civil Protection estimates that around 6,000 civil guards will be needed each year to support a total of 72,000 people.
With the mandatory service expanded, 10,000 more people would be available next year. Some of them may now have to contract, even though they have supposedly fulfilled their service obligations.
