Young people are the future of Bulgaria and must be supported, because they are the ones who will ensure the security of the country. This was stated in the studio of "The Day Begins with Georgi Lyubenov" by Senior Commissioner Prof. Ilin Savov, the new rector of the Academy of the Ministry of Interior, in his first television interview after taking office. He outlined the main priorities for the Academy as discipline, legality, physical and professional training, as well as the introduction of new technologies in the training of future employees of the Ministry of Interior.
"The most important thing is to turn to young people, because they are the future of Bulgaria. And every statesman, as well as the head of the security structures, as well as Bulgarian citizens, must support young people, because they will ensure our safety. Modern, strategically thinking and, of course, most importantly - dedicated to law and order", said Prof. Savov.
Currently, about 1,500 cadets are studying at the Academy of the Ministry of Interior. The main areas are related to combating crime in the "Police" faculty and fire safety. According to the new rector, however, the ambition is for the structure of the Academy to develop and for new units to be created that would support the entire security system.
"The ideas are strategic - to create other units that would support the entire security system, which would build a security shield in our country and be good partners in Europe", he pointed out.
According to him, there are no specialties in which there is a lack of interest or vacant places. On the contrary - interest in studying at the Academy is growing:
"The interest is huge. We have a 40% growth for this new year. I think we will have even greater success. For the new school year next year, I think we will have even greater interest, as young people want to be involved in helping people, to find a secure profession that is a good role model, and accordingly to be a good example."
Prof. Savov also clarified the legal education at the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Currently, there is no specialty there that provides a full legal education and legal capacity. A similar opportunity existed in the past.
"This is the moment when in 1993-1994 they stopped this practice. Many lawyers, prosecutors, judges in the Republic of Bulgaria graduated from the Academy of the Ministry of Interior during this period, when the institution itself provides the opportunity to acquire a legal education. I personally graduated from the Academy of the Ministry of Interior as a bachelor. I do not have a legal education from there. I graduated separately and acquired legal capacity in accordance with the order," he explained.
Asked if he imagines the Bulgarian Academy of the Ministry of Interior as the American FBI Academy, Savov replied that his ambition is even greater:
"I imagine our academy to be better than the FBI Academy. I have been to 19 police academies. I have personally taught in 12 of them. The last one I taught in was in the Czech Republic. I think Bulgaria has enormous potential and our cadets and employees are at an extremely high level."
According to him, the key to change lies in responsibility – both of the Academy's management and of all those involved in the training of Ministry of Interior employees:
"Responsibility is the most important. All of us in the team that will lead the Ministry of Interior Academy in the coming years have a clear and definite goal. This is responsibility, discipline, order and legality. In our Ministry of Interior Academy, we are responsible not only for the employees and for the cadets who join the Ministry of Interior. We are responsible for the entire structuring, behavior and training of the Ministry of Interior employees as a whole."
He recalled that the Academy does not only train cadets, but also provides specializations and qualifications for current employees and managers:
"We are the main tool with which to enable the Ministry of Interior to pursue a policy close to citizens, to make them feel calm, to increase their trust in the police authorities, since they are in the field, they are visible. The behavior, the appearance of the Bulgarian police officer, respectively his attitude towards people, politeness, quick reaction, decision-making under pressure - all this is a very complex process that does not happen in a day or two. This is still to come."
According to Savov, the vision of well-prepared, disciplined and educated officers should become a real standard. When asked whether all officers meet the physical standards, he provided data on the checks passed in the previous year:
"What I can share is that last year nearly 25 thousand police officers passed their training – I am talking about checking their condition, and over 5,500 firefighters. We will increase the requirements. The Ministry of Interior is changing its policy, its strictness towards the entire process. We at the Academy of the Ministry of Interior are starting to build new procedures, methodology, as well as comprehensive control over the processes along the lines of the very behavior of the police officers."
Among the main challenges facing the modern police, the rector listed the technological development of crime. According to him, conventional criminal structures are already using digital tools that make it difficult for investigative bodies. The Academy of the Ministry of Interior already teaches drone control, but according to Savov, this is only one of the tools that should be included in modern police training:
"Yes, we have one of the departments that teaches precise drone control, but drones by themselves do not provide the solution. They are the tool for collecting data. We are just beginning to consider the training itself, refracted through new technologies, the use of artificial intelligence as a defense, since, unfortunately, in many processes it is used for attack."
According to Savov, artificial intelligence already plays a significant role in the development of digital economic crime:
"It is the accelerator of modern digital crime and it is the generator of extremely huge financial assets of the new digital economic crime. So yes, definitely not just drone control – we are yet to introduce digital polygons, we will do everything possible to learn and prepare employees to analyze data correctly and modern crime will be worried, because we will be prepared."
Cybercrime, crypto fraud, hacker attacks and the use of artificial intelligence for criminal purposes are among the topics on which, according to Savov, a significantly stronger emphasis should be placed.