BRATISLAVA, October 18, (WEBNOVINY) – The Interior Ministry has already identified areas with higher criminality in Slovakia, where police patrols should be considerably strengthened next year. Minister Daniel Lipsic (KDH) reported that at the beginning of 2011, the Police will undergo a major restructuring process, in which the railway and border police departments will be shifted under the jurisdiction of the Police Presidium. “The aim is to have fewer police officers in offices, in administrative buildings, and more policemen in the streets, protecting the security of people,” stated the minister at a news conference on the occasion of assessment of the first 100 days of the new government.
For the time being, the interior minister did not want to specify the localities were patrols will be intensified, but he specified that it would not concern just areas close to segregated settlements, where police patrols have been already strengthened and where Roma specialists have been deployed. The minister added that in order to achieve progress in areas with high criminality, police forces have to be increased significantly. In addition to that, the policemen have to be trained well and win the trust of the locals. The minister will inform the public about concrete steps in this area in the coming weeks.
During the first one-hundred days of the new government, the ambition of Minister Lipsic was to have a ministry directed by principles of effectiveness, openness, and safety. “We have started a very radical cost-cutting, not on safety, but on office staff,” he said. The ministry has already started reducing the number of civil employees and is considering rationalizing regional structures of public administration, fire brigades and policemen. “But we will not save on policemen, firefighters, rescuers, or the mountain rescue service; it is absolute priority,” Lipsic declared, adding that “security has its costs”.
With regard to the new system of informing about the activities of the traffic police, he said that the priority is to ensure the minimum number of accidents, rather than levy as much fines as possible.
Minister Lipsic also mentioned measures following the recent shooting spree in Bratislava part of Devinska Nova Ves. “We reacted also by defining the priority for next year, which will be better armament and protection of the Police, including training,” he stated. In addition to that, the ministry has prepared a legislative proposal to tighten rules for holding a gun in order to minimize the risk that a mentally unstable person might hold them.
SITA
