€250 million to boost police and military personnel

The government agreed to spend €250 million on boosting the number of police officers and armed forces. This step is a part of the anti-terror package recently approved. The Interior Ministry plans to employ and train 2500 new police officers and the armed forces will be backed up by additional 800 soldiers. The standard number of patrols in Slovak streets which was until now 450 has almost tripled to 1,200 following the November terror attacks in Paris, but the ministry deems this unsustainable from a long-term perspective. Ideally 800 police patrols should be on duty across Slovakia at any time. Slovak police officers as well as military personnel will be getting new equipment the procurement of which was won by the Czech firearms producer and supplier Česká Zbrojovka (Czech Arms). The Slovak subsidiary of the company is poised to hire some 230 people in Nováky (Trenčín region) by the end of 2016. However, the company is struggling with the lack of technical workers in this area and hopes to address the problem through dual education programmes.