Since 1994 the Ministry of Interior has regularly presented the statements concerning the security situation in the Czech Republic in the last calendar year to the government and subsequently to the parliament. The government defines the most serious security risks for the following year resulting from these statements on the basis of the analysis of the security situation. The limitation of these risks is the fundamental priority of the Ministry of Interior and of the Police of the Czech Republic and of all departments involved in the sphere of the internal security and public order as well.
The number of legislative and preventative measures and the aims of the international and interdepartmental co-operation are focused on the solution of the problems of the internal security and public order together with the concrete security actions and basic priorities of the Police of the Czech Republic. The survey of the basic steps, which were adopted in these areas in 1997 including the involved departments co-operation, forms the part of the statements concerning the security situation.
The government is informed on the problems of some security risks by means of the separate materials. In 1996 the Ministry of Interior presented the conception material "The problems of the organised crime and effective actions against this type of criminality", which was adopted by the government. In 1997 this material was assessed, actualized and discussed by the government again. A number of concrete tasks imposed on the relevant departments. The information on the situation in the migration field has been presented to the government and the parliament as well every year. At the end of 1997 the Ministry of Interior prepared the statement concerning extremism and racist conflicts for the governmental discussions, which contains the concrete tasks for the relevant departments (the material from 1995 had concerned in details the above mentioned problems before).
The development of the overall criminality in the territory of the Czech Republic had been heavily dynamic since 1990. This trend lasted until 1993 when the number of recorded criminal offences culminated. Till that time the increase of the number of discovered crimes moved between 15,4% (in 1993 compared with 1992) and 30,5% (in 1991 compared with 1990). The number in 1993 meant that the Police of the Czech Republic registered 84% of crimes more than in 1990. Since 1993 the number of discovered crimes has been slightly increasing (the average annual increase in 1993-1997 represented 3,4% and in 1994-1997 0,4%). The comparison of 1997 with 1996 (+2,4%) shows the sustained, however slight increase of the overall criminality in the territory of the Czech Republic. In 1997 the Police of the Czech Republic recorded the historical maximum number of 403,654 detected criminal offences.
In the first quarter of 1998 there was almost 10% increase of the number of detected crimes in comparison with the first quarter of 1997, this fact confirms the trend of the permanent increase of the number of discovered crimes.
The growth of the registered criminality, however, does not mean the unconditional connection with the extent of the real criminality (there can be influence of e.g. the change of public behaviour in announcement of the offences, i.e. the greater public willingness to cooperate with the police, the intensity of the police work during the investigation of crimes etc.). In 1997 there were 392 detected criminal offences on 10.000 inhabitants (in 1996 there were 382 detected criminal offences). The permanent increase of the number of cleared up crimes as well as the clarification percentage is very positive (the rate of the discovered and cleared up criminal offences). The ranking of regions according to the number of discovered crimes did not changed in comparison with 1996. The stagnation of criminality occurs with certain divergency in the majority of regional administrations of the Police of the Czech Republic with the exception of the Central Bohemia and the territory of the capital of Prague, but also here the negative trend in the criminality development has decreased in comparison with 1996. The territory of the capital of Prague (867 crimes /10.000 inhabitants) and the Central Bohemia (427 crimes/10.000 inhabitants) have continued to be the most burden territories on a calculation of the detected crimes on 10.000 inhabitants.
The government of the Czech Republic confirmed the security risks for 1997 from 1996 on the basis of the security situation analysis as follows:
The risks with the international element which are directly connected with the stability of the political system. The tools for their limitation lie in the legislation sphere, in the international co-operation and the conception solution on the highest level of the management.
Risks directly affecting the safety feeling of the citizens. The tools for their limitation lie especially in the legislation sphere and in the work of the Police of the Czech Republic.
All basic characteristics of the security risks development from 1996 came to light more or less in 1997. The stagnation of the quantitative part of the property criminality has continued, the number of discovered crimes of the violent and economic criminality has been growing. The common phenomenon of the criminality is in the increasing extent the professionalism, qualification, organisation and the communication of the organised crime activities with the property, violent and serious economic criminality.
The current legal processing of the protection of official secrets has not satisfied the contemporary internal needs and has not been compatible with the legal processing of the European Union and NATO. The bill of the new law, which was adopted by the government in 1997, presents the basis of the official secrets protection system in the Czech Republic. It defines and classifies the official secrets and establishes the method of screening the persons involved in official secrets.
The interest of the foreigners concerning the long-term and permanent residence in the Czech Republic has continued in the migration field. The number of foreigners who do not legalize their stay has been increasing as well. The people smuggling has intensified, the number of illicit border crossing points has been growing. The illicit migration and the people smuggling are connected with the internationally organised crime. The European Union has strengthened the measures for combat illicit migration and people smuggling as these risks cause the threat for the public safety.
The organised crime activities were also in this period connected with the serious economic, property and violent criminality, however, with the street criminality (e.g. car thefts) as well. Organised groups committed multi-criminal offences, the serious economic criminality (corruption, tax and financial machinations) seems to be especially dangerous area. Recently the most expressive change in the signification of the Czech Republic has occurred in the drug sphere. The territory of the Czech Republic has become the centre of the international drug trafficking. The number of crimes concerning the illicit production and possession of the narcotic and psychotropic substances (if in 1994 there were 383 registered, in 1997 there were even 2404 crimes). Profits from the organised prostitution are comparable with those coming from the production and distribution of narcotic and psychotropic substances. Combat organised crime has to be understood as the joint priority effort not only on all levels of the department but also in the field of the international co-operation of the governmental and non-governmental institutions and organisations.
The increasing number of ideologically and racially motivated crimes was accompanied by the growing aggressivity and brutality. The social dangerous nature of these actions is multiplied by the expressed and still growing contempt of generally human merits. The negative trend is that offenders are more and more often the young people eventually nonaged persons. The complex approach to the solution of these socially dangerous phenomena needs to be looked for firstly in the field of prevention (upbringing, education, culture), and after having used all preventive means, then in the enforcement. It does not change the fact that the measures taken by law enforcement authorities has to be decisive, unmistaken and fast.
The criminality of young people still continues to be a serious phenomenon, it concerned simple thefts also in this period. The moderate, however continuous increase of the number of children in the total number of offenders is a problem. The number of crimes committed by children (under 15 years) has been increased of 60% in the course of the last 6 years. The number of offences concerning the malicious healthy harm committed by children has considerably increased. The offenders committing the crimes concerning extremism are only rarely over 20 years of age.
The development of the property and violent criminality is to a certain extent determining for the safety feeling of the citizens. The number of the discovered offences concerning the property criminality has stagnated, however, the growth of some kinds of property criminality mainly car thefts and thefts of the things from the cars has continued. The positive trend of the last years concerning both dangerous categories burglaries in flats and holidays houses has continued. (According to IVVM researches almost more than 40% of citizens think that police should pay more attention to the burglaries in flats and holidays houses). The offenders are more and more specialized, they commit the offences "on order", the contents of the stolen articles prove the qualified tipping of the objects. It concerns also the thefts in objects with the antique and artificial articles where the decrease of these crimes is connected with the high increase of losses.
The negative trend occurs in the continuous growth of the number of crimes concerning the violent criminality, however, the dynamism of their increase has fallen down since 1994. In comparison with 1996 the number of murders has increased, the growth of burglary crimes has continued. Violent crimes offenders intensify the brutality of their crimes, the extent of involving in the organised crime has been increasing. The attacks conducted by means of the snared explosive system have been becoming a dangerous factor in the frames of the violent criminality.
The considerable increase of the economic criminality was characteristic for the screened period, especially in its most serious performance connected with the organised crime. The number of discovered frauds crimes (mainly invoicing and insurance frauds, frauds in the financial and banking sphere) has increased. The criminality in the field of the spiritual property including the computer criminality still remains serious also from the international point of view. The increased number of the disclosed economic crimes gives the evidence of the extensive effort of policemen, more than 90% of these crimes were detected by the police.
The general condition of the public order and the street criminality is affected also by further above mentioned security risks, especially racial conflicts, simple thefts (e.g. car thefts and robbery of the things from the cars, pickpocketing) and some violent criminality demonstrations (e.g. burglaries). In 1997 there were not any public order violations in the territory of the Czech Republic, but according to the frequency of their occurrence they influence the security feeling of the public (according to IVVM research almost 60% of respondents think that police should pay more attention to the street criminality and murders).
The number of disclosed crimes concerning the moral criminality has decreased, which does not exclude its high latency, mainly as far as detected procuring cases are concerned. The crimes committed on the young people remain as the problem. The prostitution is a grave dangerous phenomenon occurring in various fields of the criminality from the minor property criminality till the serious violent crimes and it becomes dangerous by its connection with the organised crime (drugs, women smuggling, etc.).
If we evaluate the sphere of the internal security and public order in 1997, general criminality trends, the problems of security risks and opinions of citizens, their safety feeling and satisfaction with activities of all law enforcement authorities, it is possible to state that security risks determined by the government are directed to the actual problems and therefore the government confirms them for 1998 as well. In the frames of the security risks definition the area of racial conflicts was enlarged of extremism offences (i.e. mainly racially motivated attacks, promotion of fascism and other counter-constitutional ideologies) and the area of the computer criminality was enlarged on the whole sphere of the spiritual property (i.e. including the computer criminality).
System solutions of problems connected with the criminality has to be based on the set of measures of all involved departments mainly from the legislative and preventative spheres, but also on the inter-departmental and international co-operation.
Simultaneously it is necessary to pay the close attention to the economic assurance of the Police of the Czech Republic. The measures of economy in the financing field in 1997 caused the situation in which the Police of the Czech Republic has been on the very edge of its functionality.
The essential turn in the internal security sphere can be achieved only by the common effort of the whole society. The demonstration of the solidarity of all political powers, self-governments and citizens as well in favour of the internal security is necessary.