Romanian police union: Citizen safety, not a Govt. priority

The safety of the citizens is not a priority of the Government, Dumitru Coarnă, the president of the National Union of Policemen and Contract Personnel (SNPPC), said, quoted by Agerpres. The Federation of Police Union protested, on December 20, the under-funding of the domestic order system, the salaries of those working in the sector, and the inadequate protection of police members. “To them [e.n. the Government], your safety is not a priority, you can quietly die on the streets, because it is not a priority for this Government. They do not invest in citizen safety, since it is not a priority. Ms. Olguţa Vasilescu called us in a such a way on Facebook… this is the best she can do…,” Coarnă said. The union president is referring to a post labor minister Lia Olguta Vasilescu shared on her Facebook page, which she deleted later the same day. The post was a video stating that anyone can be convicted by the “incompetent police” based on unclear video recordings. The police union is requesting amendments to the law concerning the pay of public sector employees that would revise “the precarious pay” of police personnel. It also called the transfer of social contributions from the employer to the employees “a social experiment impacting millions of employees, including policemen.” Coarnă said the union would block the system by obeying the law, namely not doing any overtime, not answering the phone after 16:00, and not going on missions with cars that are technically inadequate. The union is requesting the option of paid overtime for police workers. “We have explained […] that we are the only ministry with tens of thousands of overtime hours, and here we are talking about the Police, the Gendarmery, the Firefighters, that do not receive overtime pay because the law forbids it,” he said. He also pointed to the old car fleet of the Police. “Anytime, such a car can be involved in an accident, and the policeman would be held accountable,” he explained. Coarnă said none of the union’s requests was accepted because of the lack of funds. “No request was accepted because of the lack of funding. It is a delicate situation, none was accepted, of course, it wasn’t declined either. The same diversion, manipulation method applies. You create a problem, you let them fight over it, the year passes by and we wake up in 2019 with the same salary,” he added. Coarnă said the union would protest again in March of next year. Romanian Police to buy 5,600 cars Romanian Police to be equipped with bullet and stab proof vests editor@romania-insider.com