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Kalinak Won't Consider Dismissing Police Corps President Jan Packa
Tuesday 12 January 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, January 12 (TASR) - Interior Minister Robert Kalinak (a Smer-SD nominee) isn't considering the dismissal of Slovak Police Corps President Jan Packa over the explosives scandal at Poprad airport (Presov region), Interior Ministry spokesman Erik Tomas told TASR on Tuesday.
The reason behind Kalinak's thinking is that the Border and Foreigners Police, a member of which was responsible for the botched security exercise that led to a sample of explosives being taken to Dublin in the luggage of an unsuspecting traveller, isn't part of the Police Corps but "acts as an independent department under the remit of the Interior Ministry, due to the requirements for entry to the Schengen zone", said the spokesman
Tomas said that the training of dogs to find illegal substances has been in place for a long time, as confirmed on Tuesday by former head of the Border and Foreigners police Michal Borgula. "Under Jan Packa, the Police Corps has seen remarkable achievements, be it a significant lowering of the crime rate or a lower number of fatalities and injuries on Slovak roads," said Tomas.
Packa's dismissal has been demanded by LS-HZDS chairman Vladimir Meciar. "He should bear responsibility for this incident. The amount of tolerance that the Interior Minister treats him with is beyond my understanding, especially seeing as he has cost the minister political momentum a number of times. I for one want the minister not to consider taking action but to dismiss Packa unconditionally," said Meciar, adding that he also plans to bring this issue up at a Coalition Council session.
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