Another town to introduce Romani police assistants

Sokolov, West Bohemia, Jan 26 (CTK) - Romany assistants will help the local police mainly in the communication with people from troublesome localities as of the spring, Sokolov Mayor Zdenek Berka told CTK yesterday.

The local police were inspired by the experience in Decin, north Bohemia, where similar assistants have scored good results, Berka said.

The town police are to be helped by four assistants, he added.

"They will be employees of the municipal police, but will not serve as regular police officers. This means that they will have neither the relevant equipment nor powers. But they will help," Berka said.

Last November, the town hall invited representatives of the Romany community for talks at which the introduction of the assistants that are to prevent crime was one of the measures on which the two sides agreed.

An Interior Ministry subsidy will help their integration into the municipal police, Berka said.

In all, the costs of the new posts are to reach some 738,000 crowns, he added.

"Salaries will be the biggest part of the costs. The town will bear some 10 percent of them," Berka said.

As the assistants will not have the powers of regular municipal police, they do not have to comply with the strict conditions to enter the corps.

However, they must have a clean criminal record.

"We have singled out some 16 persons from the Romany community. After the subsidy is confirmed, the commander of the municipal police will select the right candidates," Barta said.

Town residents say they do not feel safe in the troublesome localities of the town.

The assistants are to use their authority and convince the troublesome locals not to make any problems.

The Romany assistants are to work with the municipal police for some ten months. If they prove useful, their careers may continue, Barta said.

Crime has been rising lately in some towns in northern and western Bohemian towns, with tense relations between the majority population and Romanies. Local residents blame Romanies for crime, mainly frequent thefts and assaults.

($1 = 19.597 crowns)