As Dubrovnik and Zagreb police get help from China, Šibenik's police are to be joined by Macedonian, Czech, and German colleagues.
As SibenikIN writes on the 2nd of July, 2018, Šibenik-Knin's police administration and its officers will receive support this summer from Czech and Macedonian police officers, and in mid-July they will be joined by reinforcement from Berlin as part of the Safe Tourism Season project that the Croatian police force has been implementing since back in 2006.
The chief of the Šibenik-Knin police administration, Ivica Kostanić, stressed the importance of cooperation with foreign police forces in order to raise security levels throughout the summer season all over the county, taking a look at the state of security during the first five months of 2018.
''Regarding the security situation on the territory for which the Šibenik-Knin police administration is responsible during the first five months [of the year], the data shows that things are favourable and at a high level. We've noted a positive trend and a fall in the total crime rate, and thus an increase in the efficiency of our work. As for foreign tourists and their safety, we're taking great care of their security.
Every summer, we use our internal resources, we bring in reinforcements from Knin and Drniš to our stations on the coast in Šibenik, Primošten, and Vodice. The biggest threat is continued traffic as well as summer tourism criminality such as theft and burglary,'' stated Kostanić.
''Our goal is [enuring] the safety of tourists, both foreign and domestic and through the Safe Tourism Season, which has been implemented since 2006 upon the initiative of the Ministry of the Interior, the involvement of foreign police officers has become a brand of the Croatian police.
It [the initiative] has received support from countries where most tourists in Croatia come from, and if viewed statistically, those are Germany, Austria, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovakia. This year, along with Czech and Macedonian policemen, police officers from Berlin will arrive in mid-July, so we've covered all of these areas,'' added Ivica Kostanić of the Šibenik-Knin police administration.
Ivana Černakova of the Czech police will be serving in the area of Šibenik, and she has been helping the Šibenik-Knin police administration now for eight years during the summer season.
"In the space of eight years, there's been a bit of everything, theft, burglary, a lost Czech child, there were a lot of traffic accidents, we also caught workers without work permits. There was one tragic case of death. It works perfectly well with my work in the Czech Republic, there's excellent cooperation, we ended last year with Czech Gypsies who were going around stealing near Krk, so I have to really emphasise this excellent cooperation. Nobody knows what will happen but through work and excellent cooperation we all manage to solve it all, I know my colleagues and this area, as they do me, and that's the most important thing,'' commented Černokova.
Helen Kahnov, who has been coming to PU Šibenik-Knin for six years now during the summer season, and will serve in the area of Vodice, agrees with her. Czech police officers Karel Skala and Aleksandr Kjnunić will also be in service in the area of Šibenik and Vodice during August. There are also police officers from Macedonia, Stole Dodevski and Darko Jovanovski coming, who will serve in July and August.
Krešimir Nimac of the police service pointed out that foreign police officers, in addition to being a communication bridge, are promoters of the entire action that has lasted for years and has proved to be very successful.
''Every year, there's a growing number of officials coming from foreign countries, and this year Chinese policemen are coming to the Zagreb area. This means that foreign countries have not only recognised the significance of this project, but by sending their officers, they enable their citizens to feel safer in Croatia as they work 24 hours per day and are at their disposal at any time. They're valuable help to us and we're looking forward to seeing them this year,'' Nimac said.
This kind of cooperation is based on a memorandum of understanding between the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Croatia and the same ministries in the Czech Republic and Macedonia, the tasks of the foreign police officers include helping out Croatian police officers in their day-to-day operations in the Šibenik and Vodice area, especially in terms of improving communication and cooperation with tourists from their countries, as well as the prevention of criminal offenses and the promotion of traffic safety.
During their time here, the foreign police officers will be dressed in their official uniforms without weapons and are obliged to abide by all of the related regulations in the Republic of Croatia.
The police say that, according to tourist traffic data, the police officers from the partner police are engaged in those areas where tourists are mostly nationals from the states in which the officers come from, and therefore, while Dubrovnik and Zagreb will see Chinese officers, the Šibenik area will primarily see Czech and Macedonian police officers on the streets.
