25 August 2009


Participants in the round table entitled: “Police in the modern society – the need of reform in Bulgaria” agree that a new strategy for development in this sector has to be adopted

The forum under the above title was organized by the Bulgarian Center for the Study of Democracy and the parliamentary Committee on Internal Security and Public Order and was held at the National Assembly on August 25, 2009. The event was attended by members of the parliament, magistrates, government officials and diplomats.

The Center for the Study of Democracy president Ognyan Shentov and the Charge d’Affaires of the USA embassy in Sofia, John Orduey, opened the discussion. In his address, the American diplomat called for fast and effective measures to be soon undertaken so that the reform could be carried out.

Chavdar Chervenkov from the Center for the Study of Democracy presented the Center’s last results of a research held on the same subject. He pointed that according to the research, citizens do not report to the police almost half of the cases of household crimes. In his words, the portion of this undeclared, so called “latent” type of crime reaches 40-50 % of the total. According to him the basic problem of the Internal Ministry was that even though the criminal setting in the country has changed it still employs the old structure and instruments to fight crime.

The Committee on Internal Security and Public Order leader Anastas Anastasov stated that a strategy for the development of the whole security sector was needed. He added that the committee was ready to propose an increase in the Internal Ministry’s budget, but would like first to see the setting up of concrete measures. He also said that the creation of municipal police services was an idea worth discussing.

The new Minister of the Interior, Mr. Tsvetan Tsvetanov announced that an expert group will be formed, which is to elaborate the full concept regarding the security and public order sector in the country. The group will consist of law enforcement, political parties and civil society representatives. According to the minister the strategy in its final version should be based on the consensus of all political parties in order for the reform in the sector of security and public order to be implemented.

The draft amendments to the State Agency for National Security Act and to the Ministry of the Interior Act will be submitted in parliament together. The Interior Deputy Minister Veselin Vuchkov explained that the amendments to the Ministry of the Interior Act aim at incorporating the structures of the former Ministry of the Emergencies into the latter and at giving full authority to the Main Directorate for Organized Crime Combating and to the full declassification of the number of the Ministry of the Interior’s personnel.