BRATISLAVA, December 21, (WEBNOVINY) — Police Corps as well as other bodies of the Interior Ministry have reached historically best results this year, Minister Daniel Lipsic (KDH) stated on Wednesday. He also said that 2011 has been a year of breakthrough, as many influential people have understood they cannot stand above the law.
Although exact statistics will be available only in several weeks, for example there have been 14,539 traffic accidents so far this year until today. At this time of last year, the number was higher by 7,000. The number of persons killed, seriously and or lightly wounded is similarly favorable. The minister further emphasized that less money from fines has been collected this year than a year ago. It has been 34 million euros this year, while it was by ten millions more in 2010. “This means that the evaluation system to avoid bullying of drivers works. Police officers do not go to places where they can collect more fines but the goal is different, namely to fine only those most dangerous, those who endanger traffic safety,” the minister added. The number of robberies, car thefts and minor criminality is going down too. “[Of course], I cannot guarantee that no criminal activities will be committed in Slovakia,” he noted adding that the trend is important and the trend is good.
The interior minister considers the fight against corruption critical. The amount of detected bribes over the first eleven months is 23 times higher than during the whole previous year. “We are not aiming only on cases of small corruption of doctors, traffic police officers and in small offices but also on cases of major corruption as this is the basic problem. It has not been pursued,” he added. This includes corruption related to PPP projects, corruption at the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Interior Ministry or in the final stages of construction of the biathlon center in Osrblie. The size of detected damages in serious economic criminality, including tax fraud, is nine billion euros higher. Last year it was 228 million while this year it has been 9.3 billion euros. “We are chasing big fish,” the minister added.
According to the minister, recapitulation of cases in the area of organized crimes would mean carrying coal to Newcastle. These cases include criminal gangs of Jaksikovci, Pitovci or Sykorovci. “These are not small fish, ‘mules’ or middle management of criminal gangs, we are talking about top members,” the minister added.
The minister further said that the department also achieved progress in improving quality of services for citizens which means saving money as well as time spent in offices. They also reported improvement in the Integrated Rescue System.
SITA