MINISTER LUKAČ HELD EXTENDED STAFF MEETING
| Banja Luka | Monday, 25/01/2021
‘Security situation on the territory of the Republic of Srpska during the previous year can be referred to as good, since despite the additional police engagement due to emergency situation/state of emergency, the total crime rate was reduced by 5.3%’, the Republic of Srpska Minister of the Interior, Mr Dragan Lukač, said. He pointed out that the rate of solved cases in total and cases of criminal offences committed by an unknown perpetrator increased, and added that the Ministry successfully realised all the conclusions of the Republic HQ for emergency situations.
At the press conference, held on the occasion of the Extended Staff Meeting, Minister Lukač explained that, in 2020, in the Republic of Srpska, the total number of 7,211 criminal offences were committed, and that the number of criminal offences was not only reduced as a result of good police work but also due to the specific circumstances caused by COVID-19 pandemic.
He pointed out that, the previous year, the percentage of solved criminal cases increased, and that reduction rates were detected in all fields of crime.
Minister Lukač said that the members of the Republic of Srpska Ministry of the Interior successfully performed all tasks in dealing with COVID-19 pandemic.
‘The members of our Ministry had additional engagements, and one of them was implementing the police curfew. Despite the fact that we had a large number of members infected with COVID-19, we successfully fulfilled all the tasks’, Minister Lukač said.
Regarding the traffic safety in 2020, Minister said that there were 9,070 traffic accidents, which is 11.1% less than in 2019, and that the total number of persons who died in traffic accidents was 101. According to the Minister, that was the lowest number of persons who died in traffic accidents within a year.
‘The lower number of traffic accidents resulted from good police work, but also the technical equipment we possess, since security cameras have been or will be set up in 43 local communities, each police administration has interceptor vehicles and contemporary radar systems’, Minister Lukač explained and reminded that more than 300 security cameras would be set up in Banja Luka with the aim of improving the security.
Furthermore, he added that, within the building of the Republic of Srpska Ministry of the Interior, a contemporary center would be established where everything done in the field would be documented. Therefore, he invited drivers to follow traffic regulations and timely register their vehicles in order to avoid paying fines.
According to the Minister, vehicles shall be seized from drivers who collect a large number of traffic fines they did not pay.
Another point that Minister Lukač made was that the Republic of Srpska Ministry of the Interior was educating young people with the aim of employing them in future, since employing young people with the police was a strategic project.
‘Nowadays, the generation of police officers that were employed with the Ministry during the war (1992-1995) is being retired, and therefore, we have to employ young people. This year, there are 350 cadets at the Police Academy; there will be the total number of 1,450 police officers who finished their education, and 1,100 of them are already employed with the Ministry.
Finally, Minister Lukač said that building of the new facility of the Police Academy should be finalised by the end of the current year.
