site.btaInterior Minister Marinov: Policy for Counteracting, Preventing Petty Crime is Government Priority

October 7 (BTA) - The Interior Ministry held a national
meeting on Sunday. Addressing the participants, Interior
Minister Mladen Marinov said that the policy for counteracting
and preventing petty crime is a priority in the cabinet's
governance programme. Marinov said that interaction is to be
improved with the local powers and the other authorities having
a bearing of the issue.

He said that the appointment of police officers, the creation of
 mobile teams, CCTV in towns and villages, and direct
communication with the members of the public remain at the focus
 of the Interior Ministry. Traffic safety is another priority,
Marinov said.

He went on to note that the Ministry is proud with Frontex's
assessment that the Bulgarian-Turkish border is the best
protected external border of the EU.

The national meeting of the Interior Ministry was attended by
Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, Defence Minister Krassimir
Karakachanov, Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov, Prosecutor
General Sotir Tsatsarov, among others.

Speaking at the meeting, Borissov said that "irrespective of the
 clear separation of powers, we have a duty to work with the
prosecuting magistracy together, from start to finish, until we
bring a given case to court".

In his speech the Prime Minister spoke about petty crime, noting
 that he found it hard to understand how come that after 341
vehicles are being provided at the moment to the Interior
Ministry, plus 300 more cars that have been ordered, there are
still villages and population centres where police presence is
scarce.

Borissov said that Bulgaria has absorbed 68 per cent of the EU
funding for border protection. He promised 150 million leva more
 for salaries to Interior Ministry staff. 

The Prime Minister also said that he wants to see the Interior
Ministry's Forensic Science Institute "as forensics that people
see on crime-scene investigation films". Borissov said that
additional funding has been allocated for the institute, so that
 it can perform better and faster investigations.

Prosecutor General Sotir Tstatsarov too addressed the meeting.
Tsatsarov said that in order to counteract petty crime, a model
is needed akin to a network of modular gendarmerie stations,
deployed across the territory of the country, outside cities.
"This is the way for ensuring a strong and active police
presence. Anything else is pouring money, resources and efforts
in a model that has long exhausted its meaning," he said.

Tsatsarov noted the good work of the State Agency for National
Security, of the Directorate General for Organized Crime
Control, and the excellent interaction with the Specialized
Prosecuting Magistracy.

Tsatsarov also spoke about a total overhaul of the model of the
Forensic Science Institute. "We do not need a research institute
 but a central forensic laboratory with units across the
country. We do not need dissertation theses, we need expert
examinations," he said.

Defence Minister Krassimir Karakachanov said that the chosen
direction - for increasing the salaries of the police, and for
allocating money for technical equipment, is the right
direction. Speaking about petty crime, Karakachanov said that
the mobile groups that had been created produce results, albeit
probably falling short of what people in smaller towns and
villages expected.

Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov said that the role of the
Interior Ministry "as the biggest employer in this country, is
to guard the public relations". In Goranov's words, "it is sad
that the strongest criticism to the Interior Ministry divisions
is the criticism to the Economic Police". He said that the merit
 for ensuring some of the financial security of Bulgaria goes to
 the joint work of the bodies of the Finance Ministry and of the
 Interior Ministry. "We remember times when the State was
brought down to its knees due to the inability to finance its
systems and structures. But, after the interaction between the
Interior Ministry and the Finance Ministry under the supervision
 of the judiciary, the results are apparent. We collect billions
 more, and this is not bragging," the Finance Minister said.
RY/ZH.