Police reform
Minister of the Interior of the Czech Republic Ivan Langer is reforming the Czech Police. This reform means a breakthrough in the functioning of the Czech police. It gives police new powers and stresses the preference of preventative measures before repressive ones.
"The Police reform is the unique step in the post-1989 history of the Czech police. The reform is also designed to considerably modernise the police force. A 30-year-old police officer sitting on a 40-year-old chair and hitting keys on a 50-year-old typewriter must not be a symbol of the police," said Ivan Langer.Czech police will be also able to disable local telecommunication signal in the event of a security risk. As a part of investigation police is able to access information about telephone conversations as well as using credit cards and provision of health care. The reform gives police the right to use electroshock weapons. On the other hand, the reform rids police of the obligation to deliver documents or to monitor sports events. Police will only intervene if the organisers were unable to cope with the situation at stadiums and if the health of the participants were endangered.
The modernisation of the police car park that will cost 1.47 billion crowns would also be part of the reform. Another advantage of the reform will be that policemen will no longer have to do things that delay them from their main tasks. Less serious road accidents and soccer matches will no longer be assisted by the police in the future. Traffic police will be called only to accidents in which the damage exceeds 100,000 crowns while it is 50,000 crowns at present. The reform is designed to change the organisational structure of the police in the next four years.
Jana Malíková
PR Department Director and Spokeswoman, Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic