Pecina says more officers needed in the fight against extremism

Martin Pecina, who is to serve as interior minister in the Rusnok caretaker cabinet, on Sunday severely criticized the austerity measures that reduced the police force by close to ten thousand officers in the past eight years. He said he would strive to increase their numbers especially in areas where extremism was now proving to be a serious problem. Mr. Pecina said he would like to see Romanies themselves involved in the process of restoring law and order, saying that it was better to employ Roma citizens as police assistants for a proper wage than to give them the same amount of money in social welfare.