The basic priority for me as the head of police would be to increase the credibility of the police corps, stated acting Police Chief Peter Kovařík, at his hearing before the parliamentary defence and security committee on Monday. The committee recommended him for the post of Police Chief, with Interior Minister Roman Mikulec to announce a final decision by the end of this week. Kovařík's goal is to reduce the level of public distrust in the police from the current approximately 55 percent to 25 percent. According to him, with respect to credibility, it's necessary to work on those police officers with whom people are in contact - for example, in the area of traffic or riot police.
According to Kovařík, the police are failing in the area of seizing the proceeds of crime. "We have been failing in this for a long time, but even court decisions don't sufficiently reflect on the confiscation of the proceeds from crime. It's useless to cut off one tentacle of the mafia - if the source of funding for that organised group is not cut off, the mechanism continues," he stated, adding that today, financial investigation is within the scope of one department, which in his view is insufficient. According to him, the police would also welcome an effective law on proving the origin of property.
In addition to Kovařík, the commander of the Police's anti-terror unit, Štefan Hamran, ran for the office but failed to gather enough votes from MPs on the committee. The post of Police Chief was vacated following the resignation of Milan Lučanský last summer. The Police have been led by Kovařík since September of last year.
