Prague, Nov 1 (CTK) – Czech Interior Minister Milan Chovanec (senior government Social Democrats, CSSD) wants to centralise the budgets of the regional police corps again, he said in a debate on public Czech TV Sunday, adding that the respective bill might be submitted in early 2016.
Chovanec is of the view that the decentralised police are working well in some aspects, but the system has some shortcomings as well.
A joint budget would give the police president a tool to manage all police segments in the regions more efficiently, he added.
At present, the regions have separate budgets.
At the beginning of last year, the Finance Ministry proposed an amendment on centralised police funding. This step would save up to half a billion crowns, according to the Finance Ministry´s calculation, Chovanec said.
He added that after analysing the proposal from the economic and pragmatic viewpoints, he might initiate the change at the beginning of next year.
The police president should have a chance of managing the regions financially since politicians demand results from him, while he has no tools to achieve them, Chovanec noted.
The Interior Ministry´s analyses do not expect such high savings as the Finance Ministry, he added.
The centre-left coalition amendment of the CSSD, ANO and Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL) pledged in the coalition agreement to preserve the basic organisational structure of the police: the Police Presidium, nationwide squads and 14 regional police directorates.
“In the case of their ineffective functioning, we will propose the establishment of one state organisational body or a modification of the current system within the Police of the Czech Republic,” the agreement also admits.
