Interior Minister back pedals over neighbourhood watch idea

Interior Minister Ivan Langer appears to have back-pedalled over the idea of introducing a civilian neighbourhood watch scheme. Its inclusion in an Interior Ministry reform plan raised eyebrows, as it reminded many Czechs of the communist era when some people were recruited to spy on their neighbours. But Mr Langer told Pravo that he had not actually proposed the idea but merely raised it as a topic for discussion. His predecessor Frantisek Bublan described the neighbourhood watch idea as a "return to a police state".