Trenčín
No ugly cops wanted
UGLY candidates need not apply for the job of commander at district police headquarters in Trenčín.
Local government representatives are expected to vote on a new commander for the district police in the west Slovak region in February. Among the conditions for the post is that the man be good-looking.
According to legislation passed by MPs last year the people choosing the new police chief "must judge the look of the candidate", the daily Národná obroda reported.
Dunajska Streda
Cop shops bribe-taking colleague
A POLICEMAN who thought he had got away with pocketing a motorist's fine for himself was shopped by one of his friends on the force.
Twenty-five year-old Gabriel C. had pulled over a driver on February 1 and after a breath test proved positive issued a Sk2,000 fine. However, he "forgot" to issue a ticket with the fine and pocketed the money himself.
He then gave another officer on duty with him at the time Sk900 of the money.
But the other cop, Tibor P., eventually found the guilt too much and went to his superiors.
"In the end he weighed it all up and decided to expose his colleague," said Pavol Augustín of the police control and inspection department.
Gabriel C. has been charged with abuse of power of a public official and is to be kicked off the force.
Moravské Lieskové
Arsonist caught admiring own work
RESIDENTS of Nové Mesto nád Váhom district discovered that a firebug who has torched a cottage, house, pub and two barns was a young mentally retarded man.
The man, who set three fires on January 31 and another two over the weekend, was apprehended trying to ignite a third barn. Villagers who had formed a home defence unit noticed that the young man was always one of the first to appear on the scene of the blazes.
"It would be burning away and he would just be walking around like the king of the castle," said a village resident.
The man has been taken to Trenčín hospital for psychiatric observation, but calm has not returned to the village.
"We're so afraid they'll let him out," said an elderly female inhabitant.
Košice
Bar owners beaten, shot
AN ATTACK by four masked men has left a bar-owning married couple, Miloš and Ľudmila K., with injuries requiring several months of treatment.
The two were closing shop on February 3, when the attackers burst in and pointed a gun at the head of an employee. They then beat Ľudmila, 43, with baseball bats, and on encountering her husband in the washroom served him the same way, leaving him with two broken legs, a broken hand and skull fractures.
The night before, a group of men had entered the Erato bar on Lidické námestie nearby and shot owner Miloš M. in the head. The victim was taken in critical condition to the same clinic which treated the married couple.
Police are investigating, and have not yet established whether the attacks are related or what motivated them.
Compiled by Spectator staff from press reports
