“Get washed you baby” and “I just wanted to drive by.” Law enforcement has had a heck of a year
There are many jobs and few colleagues. This definition sat on the Prague law enforcement officer in the past year perhaps even more than in the previous ones. We therefore invited them to look back for the Metro newspaper and summarize what kept them most busy this year.
“In the first half of the year, it was mainly a war like hers connected in refugee centers together with various assistance asylum seekers. This year, we also saw a sharp increase in crime associated with the post-covid return of tourists and other visitors to the capital. Finally, this year there were also a number of protest actions and demonstrations, in which our assistance was also necessary,” Eva Kropáčová, spokeswoman for the Prague police, tells the Metro newspaper.
Few people know that police officers from the capital, who, according to Kropáčová, are thousands less than they should be, also go to help with border controls. That is why their work is not only varied, but also demanding.
“Colleagues would be useful to us in practically every department. However, mostly for repair and individual local departments as such. We want to attract another man and woman to our ranks next year. As part of the recruitment campaigns, we mainly emphasize the highest recruitment contribution, a higher salary than was offered, and the fact that we will provide free accommodation for those interested from other cities,” Kropáčová enumerates for Metro.
At the moment, Prague police officers deal with the issue in the form of overtime. The police had to be on alert this year also because various gangs returned to the wider center of the metropolis. They commit petty crimes, they steal, violent crimes have also increased. “It’s really not just about pickpockets. Our numbers are flying up, many times over,” sad Kropáčová.
Members of the Municipal Police of the capital city of Prague have also had an interesting year. According to its spokeswoman Irena Seifertová, it was different in that the police officers had to learn new things on the go that we had no experience with.
“After the pandemic, the war started in February, which directly affected our country. The police officers are almost immediately adjacent to the events of the influx of refugees and the standard tasks of fulfilling the tasks of the state. In May, however, we also celebrated thirty years of working among the security forces, and I believe that we now have our firm, irreplaceable place among them,” Seifertová confides to the Metro newspaper, adding: “Today and every day, we try to make the streets of the metropolis safer. In addition to our work on the street, we also take care of abandoned animals. Thanks to people with big hearts, their stay with us is not long. We also thank them for their generosity and support.”
The police officers have compiled a list of interesting situations that their colleagues have experienced this year for the Metro newspaper. Sometimes alcohol, sometimes human stupidity or carelessness, plays the main role of triggering the action, which then also trends on the social networks of the Prague Municipal Police.
“Sometimes the perpetrators are aggressive, sometimes they’re kind of cute, and sometimes they’re out of touch with reality. In all cases, videos had the greatest viewership, and thus the reach on our networks. Times are changing and photos are no longer in. This news should also encourage all our colleagues who use service cameras. It makes sense!” comments its editor Vojtěch Gabriel for the Pražský stárzník newsletter.
For example, the post about two dog handlers who returned from a cynological competition through the village of Sibřina attracted the most attention on Facebook and Twitter. In addition to the gold and silver success, constables Roman and Miloslav were instrumental in rescuing several people from a burning house that day.
“He also took a post about an elderly lady who bought her grandson spray cans to develop his creative thinking and then committed criminal damage with him. Unknowingly, I suppose. Maybe it would be better if the lady enrolled her grandson in the art department of the local elementary art school,” commented Gabriel on the successful post.
Attention was also drawn to an incident that police officers experienced while checking the park on Náměstí Míru. The policeman noticed a man with a dog that was not on a leash at the tram stop. He politely asked him to put the animal on a leash, to which the man replied that he did not have one. “Come wash up,” the law enforcement officer urged right after he turned on the camera. For this, the guard handcuffed him to the railing around the flower bed.
“I swear, honest boy scout, only around here,” the sixteen-year-old tried to defend his driving in his father’s car in another video. A car moving in a very uncertain, jerky and slow manner caught the attention of a police patrol near the Modřany Polyclinic in the twelfth district of the city. The case is now being handled by colleagues from the state police.