Croatian Police Will Strike, State Their Demands

We will not have police officers walk around barefoot and naked. Everyone says the police reflects the state, the unionist said.

ZAGREB, CROATIA –

- We have had enough with being killed for 5,000 kuna. If it takes, we will organise a strike, because this is the final straw. How many more bad things have to happen, how many of us have to die for the system to make a move? – Dubravko Jagic wondered, president of the Croatian Police Officers` Union told a press conference held on Thursday. On Tuesday evening, bank robbers killed a 24-year-old police officer during their gory campaign.

The Police Officers` Union invites all Croatian Interior Ministry employees to pay tribute to the killed officer Ivan Grbavac on Friday at 15 hours, when his funeral will take place, while all patrols should turn on their lights and sirens.

The Union warns that nothing has been done in the past 15 years to increase protection measures for police officials. They want the Croatian government to urgently meet their demands.

Primarily, they want the criminal low to be altered so that killers of police officers are sentenced life in prison without the opportunity of parole and for sentences passed for other types of assaults on police officials to be made stricter. Furthermore, they want the union`s representatives to et involved a workgroup which would draft a law on police authorisations. They want better equipment, training, education and better salaries, an immediate increase of the number of officials and for all car patrols to be equipped with shotguns, short automatic weapons “because criminals no longer rob armed with plastic guns”.

They want police training interns to be taken off the streets and for security standards to be made stricter and their main goal is for the state and society to tell crime that robberies and attacks on officers do not pay off. Jagic pointed out that he will talk with the government representatives in the next two weeks and the ministry. He expects precise deadlines to be made for their demands.

- I have no interest in recession, we agreed to the 6 percent cutbacks, but we will not have police officers walk around barefoot and naked. Everyone says the police reflects the state, well there you have it, this is what our country is like - Jagic said.

VIDEO: 2 Killers Arrested, 3rd Surrounded