Re: Police sacked for failure to keep order, By Beata Balogová, November 21-27, 2005
I'm inclined to feel a bit sorry for these sacked police chiefs. I don't know whether the police are underfunded, but for years they have been increasingly forced to produce their own funding through fines.
The result has been operations such as "Hawk" where the police set out to catch, if not trap, as many drivers committing offences as possible. The other sort of police action that has been popular recently has been sting operations. The police have faked kidnappings and in one case even a murder in order to "flush out" people who ordered these contract crimes.
With police actions focussing on spectacular operations and making money, there's not much time for security in every area. So to turn around and sack the police chief for not breaking the official policy [of not providing security everywhere] is a bit hypocritical.
On the other hand, I've a feeling that these police chiefs are just taking the heat, and that they will be rewarded if they are loyal and don't complain and return in some guise or another.
A lot of neo-Nazi sympathisers have been rounded up in the last week too (in Žilina the police broke up a concert by some Scandinavian extremists using a helicopter and loads of cars) but it'll be interesting to see how many are actually charged once the dust settles.
Public security is often a matter of how safe people feel, so it's good when the police have a feeling for public relations. But there needs to be real security too. I think we need CCTV and people working undercover in these extremist cells to produce intelligence, as well as a good police PR show.
Roger,
Žilina, Slovakia
