The Policeman 3/2001 |
A monthly magazine of the Ministry of the Interior of Czech Republic Department of Crime Prevention |
Reportage
The education of the bad in Bohemia
The English philanthropist John Howard (1726 to 1790) is considered to be the spiritual father of institutions for the re-education of morally impaired youth. We tried to show in this small reportage, what has changed from his times and what such institutions look like in the Czech Republic today.
This year's budget
"Same as last year, there are not enough financial means for starting new building projects, and the finances will be used mainly on projects already under construction, and for so-called machine investment. An increase in the budget will mainly show in the area of wages that are being raised, as had been announced by the government, by 4.5% and by raising the rank bonus," says in the column Questions for … Eng. Anna Štanclová, the Deputy Minister of the Interior for Economic Provision.
Crime rate decreases
Two main topics were in the foreground of the journalists' interest at a press conference organized by the Minister of the Interior. The first topic was the development of crime rate in our country and the results of police work in 2000, the second was the criminal activity of policemen. The Police President, Brigadier General JUDr. Jiří Kolář also spoke on both subjects, and the magazine Policista brings these facts as part of the column The Word of the Police President.
Foreign pages discuss among other things the Financial Action Task Force, an OECD authority that monitors "unfair tax practice" and dirty money laundering on all continents.
Survey
Houses of the Rising Sun
We asked randomly chosen people about the meaning and the results of attempts at re-educating criminally active youth. Our traditional survey brings the most interesting answers we have received.
Horní Bečva
Our visit to a small police department in Beskydy is mainly a testimony of problems with fighting property crime. Burglaries in recreational buildings, in weekend cottages belonging to companies as well as private owners, are sometimes successfully detected. Theft from cars is more difficult to detect, because offenders are often only passing through the area, and in larger space it is very hard to catch them red-handed.
Karlovy Vary
We spoke with the Manager of the spa complex Tosca in Karlovy Vary, MUDr. Václav Novotný about the reasons, why more and more clients visit the local spa establishment. The fact that Tosca can accommodate 240 visitors places it among the largest spa establishments in Karlovy Vary. The doctor also described to us the program of a two-week preventive rehabilitation for policemen and members of fire brigades.
SHOT SHOW 2001
Every year, the world's largest fair of civil fire arms, ammunition and accessories. This year's Shot Show, as the fair is called, took place between 11 and 14 January in New Orleans, and for the first time the number of exhibitors exceeded 1500. Many new things were to be seen there, some of them certainly worth noting: the small-caliber gun Walther P22; a shooting knife Hybrid exhibited by GRAD Co. from Las Vegas; the P21 gun with a plastic frame from the German company Sommer & Ockenfuss in the caliber of 9 mm Luger, 40 S&W or 224 High Velocity; a light revolver Smith & Wesson with aluminum alloy frame with scandium addition; the gun CZ 75 BD Compact Carry and others.
The end of an adventure
In the newest part of our regular column A Portrait, we introduce a young policeman, Daniel Šopinec from Trutnov, whose interest in English (and his good knowledge of it) took him far from home - to theYugoslavian Kosovo, where he served for one year in the international police forces of the UN and gained much experience. He is sure to make use of it in his life. Today, Second Lieutenant Šopinec works as a criminologist.
How women (are) murdered
In the column Archive we offer a case, in which women met, in the first half of the 1990s: as victims and as murderers. The case involved very brutal assaults of two old ladies, the first one ending in murder, which could not be sustained with proof, while the second, a brutal beating and robbery of a ninety-year old pensioner, could. The offenders, young unemployed women, mothers of small children, wanted to thus improve their "family budget", to which their partners did not sufficiently contribute.
Sport
Talents grow in Brno
In the Police Sports Club Kometa Brno, swimming has the widest base of sportsmen. Next to swimmers, there are also successful teams for water polo, synchronized swimming, and distance swimming. Among the members of Kometa Brno, we find champions in all categories: Champions of the Republic, as well as those who successfully represented us at the European Championship, World Championship, and at the Olympic Games. The Police Sports Club raises its future top sportsmen from the youngest to youth, to senior categories.
Journalists, terrorism, and snow
The final reportage in this issue of the magazine describes the Journalists' World Championship in Skiing that took place in Italy. Over two hundred journalists from more than thirty countries did not spend their time on skiing only, but took place in round table discussions, in which the topic of international terrorism raised the greatest attention.