Politicization of police limited their capacity to maintain public order, Vlad Filat

The state of affairs at the Ministry of Interior is a result of its politicization by the previous government, stated Vlad Filat at the meeting of the Ministry's Board on Thursday. The prime minister said the politicization of the police limited their capacity to maintain public order and fight with criminals, Info-Prim Neo reports. “We inherited from the previous government 78 murders, 55 rapes, 93 robberies with enough evidence to bring their perpetrators to justice, perpetrators who hadn't been apprehended within the period of time set by the law”, said Interior Minister Victor Catan. In a separate context, the minister said that in the last three months alone there were collected 1,282 weapons of different kinds, 54 of which were held illegally. Within two months the Ministry's subdivisions are to finalize and present a legal proposal improving the rules of legal possession of weapons. However Victor Catan demanded that this is done within a week's time. Harsh criticism was leveled against the air traffic police. The Ministry's Board insisted that this department should undergo very strict tests in order to prevent cases of corruption from repeating themselves. It is the first time in the country's history that the meeting of the Ministry's Board was attended by representatives of civil society, a fact which, according to Victor Catan, speaks of a real partnership with civil society.