If a police officer breaks the law, he must bear the same consequences for his actions as any other person. He declared it Minister of the Interior Matúš Šutaj Eštok (Voice-SD) in connection with the incident connected with the accusation of a Košice police officer for killing a detained person. He expressed regret over the incident.
In this context, he announced an increase in the intensity of preventive police training and the preparation of a project for body cameras during interventions. He also wants to ask Police President Ľubomír Solák about further steps he plans to take to prevent similar situations.
“The police officer who committed the act was immediately detained by the Inspection Service Office and charged. However, this cannot be enough. I will not be satisfied with a simple closure of the situation when the guilty person receives a just punishment. We must mainly prevent such situations. And that is precisely why, since I took office, we have increased the intensity of preventive training for police officers, where police officers are trained on how to react correctly in tense situations, and also we are preparing a project of body cameras that will monitor police interventions,” he stated on the social network.
According to the head of the Ministry of the Interior, the incident in Košice has nothing to do with the work of an honest police officer. “I am aware of the responsibility that police officers bring to work every day. I am also aware of the psychological demands of their profession. However, I will never turn a blind eye to someone abusing their position against a weaker person. As I said, the law will apply equally to everyone,” he added.
The investigator of the Inspection Service Office (ÚIS) accused the Košice policeman of a particularly serious crime of murder. According to the ÚIS investigator, he had while on duty on November 5, causing multiple injuries to a person arrested for a crime, to which she succumbed in hospital the next day. The accused faces a sentence of 12 to 15 years in prison.
Ombudsman Róbert Dobrovodský is horrified by the suspicion of police brutality. He believes that the relevant police forces will clarify the incident. He spoke about the need to ensure video recording of police actions, where coercive means are expected to be used. In this context, the opposition also appealed for a solution to the problem of police violence.
