site.btaInterior Minister Reopens Renovated Police Station in Resort Town of Varshets

Caretaker Interior Minister Kalin Stoyanov visited Varshets on Tuesday and opened the renovated Regional Police Station in the resort town. Stoyanov said that in the spring of 2022, the then minister of the interior closed the local police station, as well as other police stations, groups and units across the country based on analyses and calculations.

"There is no way we can talk about securing the Schengen area, stopping the refugee flow, and for us to work without the necessary structures on the ground across the country," Minister Stoyanov said. He pointed out that after he took office as Interior Minister, the Mayor of Varshets, Ivan Lazarov, had been one of the first to approach him about rebuilding the town's police station. Minister Stoyanov said that with the presence of a police station in Varshets, the response time to a critical situation in the resort town is sharply reduced and crime prevention is improved.

Mayor Lazarov said that the town is the only balneotherapy and spa resort in North-West Bulgaria and annually it receives about 70 000 overnight stays from tourists from Bulgaria and abroad. Because of this, ensuring good public order and crime prevention through police presence is extremely important. He recalled that there has been a district police station in Varshets since 1984 and it serves about 8,800 people in Varshets, eight villages of the municipality and in the Klisura Monastery near the town, which is one of the largest in the country.