• Login
  • Search:

Tue, May 21 2013

Editorial: Policing the police

Fri, Jan 27 2012 08:00 CET byClive Leviev-Sawyer, Editor-in-Chief 2374 Views
It should be safe to assume that, with the exception of criminals, everyone wants effective action against crime in Bulgaria – and certainly not just for the sake of largely symbolic gain of admission to the Schengen visa zone.

The European Commission’s next report under the Co-operation and Verification Mechanism, intended to bring Bulgaria up to scratch in EU standards on justice and home affairs, should acknowledge progress, for example in the fact that the special organised crime tribunal appears to be underway.

However, episodes such as the Mirovyane incident, in which a large squad of heavily-armed police descended on a family allegedly in possession of contraband cigarettes and, again allegedly, meted out police brutality, do no help at all. In police work, bad tip-offs happen; who knows what the police were expecting? But that is no excuse for excessive use of force.

Credibility rides on all arms of law enforcement acting appropriately. Bulgaria’s Government hardly needs to hand ammunition to its otherwise emasculated political rivals, and nor do this country’s taxpayers need to have to shell out money after European Court of Human Rights judgments.

  • Print
  • Send via email
  • Translate to
  • Share:

To post comments, please, Login or Register.


Please read the The Sofia Echo forum comments policy.

More in this category

Editorial: Give and take

Resentment on the part of ordinary Bulgarians on the basis of the perception that those on the public payroll are skimming off the cream by paying themselves lavish bonuses would be quite understandable.

Editorial: Out of pocket

A dialogue is needed about how civil society responds in terms of gathering money and goods to help those in need.

Editorial: Damning the Dutch

Sensible people in Central and Eastern Europe, of course, will not confuse Wilders and his ilk with the tradition of tolerance of which the Dutch justly can be proud.

Editorial: Stormy weather

The performance of the Government in actual delivery of assistance – money and equipment – and in aiding recovery in the coming months must be kept under the most careful scrutiny.

Editorial: Gauging pressure

Debate should be democratic, indeed, but it also should be rational and factual.

© 2000-2013, Sofia Echo Media Ltd.

Web Design by RIZN

Sofia Echo Media is part of the Economedia Group.
The news and information content on this website is provided by our editorial team and is copyrighted. Any unauthorised reproduction or use of it is strictly forbidden. Reproduction of this website's content is permitted only with prior written permission from the Editor-in-Chief, should be propertly acredited and provide an active link back to our site. Comments posted by the website's visitors are independent of the editorial materials and do not represent the views of sofiaecho.com. Sofia Echo Media cannot be held responsible for the statements contained in visitor comments. The percentаge change in the shares' prices are based on the price of the last transaction of the current session compared to the price of the last transaction of the previous session. Bulgarian Stock Exchange data is not real-time, but updated every 15 minutes, and should not be used as a basis for decisions about buying or selling stock options.