Karas: 2024 Revealed Voice-SD's Lack of Preparedness to Head Interior Ministry

Bratislava, December 27 (TASR) - This year has revealed the lack of preparedness on the part of Voice-SD to assume responsibility over the Interior Ministry, as the ministry has fully adjusted to promoting the agenda of Smer-SD in other government portfolios at its own expense, ex-justice minister and opposition's KDH vice-chair Viliam Karas told TASR in an interview. "The amended Penal Code reclassified an enormous volume of illegal misdeeds and petty theft as misdemeanors, yet the ministry has in no way prepared for penalizing this increased amount of misdemeanors, has failed to prepare the Police Corps for such a change, either in terms of personnel or methodology, all of which means that in practice there's no one to attend to petty property crimes," thinks Karas. Another failure of the current Interior Ministry leadership is its inability to address the shortage of police officers, whereas the scrapping of the National Criminal Agency (NAKA) and the reassignment of its officers to other departments that lack the necessary experience directly eroded the capability of the state to investigate sophisticated criminal activities. Karas added that such actions have an adverse impact on police officers' mental health, which leads to police brutality. "A special chapter covers the disadvantageous procurements by the ministry, whether we talk cars or firefighting equipment, which raise questions and invite suspicions," he said. mf/mcs