Changes in the Romanian Police

The Romanian Police will be reorganized. The announcement was made by the Interior Minister Cătălin Predoiu on the occasion of the presentation of the conclusions of the Inspection Body in the case of the tragedy in the seaside resort of 2 Mai, where a 19-year-old drugged driver killed two young people and injured three others who were walking on the side of the road. He had been stopped in traffic by the police about three hours before the road accident and taken to the police station where, after having been tested for alcohol and the result came out negative, he was allowed to go. In this context, Cătălin Predoiu stated that the change will start from the Constanța Police Inspectorate, where the battle with crime "has been lost" in recent years. In this context, he announced that a preliminary investigation was ordered for negligence in the case of several officers involved in the mishandling of the 2 Mai case. Among those targeted is also the head of the County Police, Adrian Glugă, who has actually requested his release from office. The minister promises a complete resetting of the entire law enforcement apparatus within the structures of the Interior Ministry and of the structure of the Ministry per se.

"We will start this resetting not through strategies and theories, but through concrete measures applied on the ground, from the street, where the citizen must be protected. We will start from Constanţa county and gradually expand it throughout the country. Constanţa County, alongside Bucharest, is one of the most difficult communities from the point of view of law enforcement and the challenges posed by the crime phenomenon', minister Cătălin Predoiu emphasized. At the same time, the minister wants more changes to the road traffic legislation, saying that he intends to militarize all the educational institutions of the Interior Ministry and that he will rethink the National Anti-Drug Agency, in relation to the evolution of consumption in Romania. In this sense, Cătălin Predoiu promises to co-opt the best specialists. Thus, the Police Academy and the school for police officers of the Romanian Police, the Border Police, the Gendarmerie, the centers for the training and application of the status of military personnel at the level of all these educational institutions will be reorganized.

In this context, the Justice Minister Alina Gorghiu said that the fight against the drug phenomenon requires a joint effort and added that the number of prosecutors currently dealing with drug cases is very small. She also referred to the tightening of punishments for those who get behind the wheel after consuming alcohol or drugs, and to the part of education related to the prevention of drug consumption. According to the Justice Minister, almost 4,700 drug-related cases were resolved this year in Romania, although only 14 prosecutors are active in the section for combating drug trafficking in the central structure of DIICOT – the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism. Currently, they are working on 7,000 drug-related cases, of which 2,700 were opened in the first six months of the year. (LS)