There is a huge hole of unoccupied states in the police, shows an analysis of the police force in Bulgaria , BNT reported. The data of the Ministry of the Interior and the NSI, collected and analyzed by the "Society and Security" Foundation, show a curious trend.
If 407 police officers per 100,000 people are appointed in the Vidin region, then 225 police officers per 100,000 people are appointed in the several times larger Plovdiv region.
"Going to family scandals, to murders, to corpses".
Stanislav Nikolov - with 8 years of experience in the Specialized Police Forces, in the SDVR, "Border Police", with a completed anti-terror course. The profession of a policeman is already a thing of the past for him.
"The wages are terribly low for this profession. The system itself does not stand behind its employees as it should be, in order to justify the stress you get on the street and then, when you come home, the stress imposed on you by your superiors," said Stanislav Nikolov.
During these eight years, Stanislav sent five colleagues who died in the line of duty. He recently said goodbye to Dimitar Petrov - the policeman who committed suicide in Sofia. The two were in the same school.
"Many of the boys and girls who were in this school are extremely capable and quite decent people who have to endure insults from people on the street and from their superiors. In fact, those people who can do this work are retiring," added Stanislav Nikolov.
Now Stanislav is an actor. He also plays the role of a policeman. But the turnover in the system continues and this opens holes in the states and for the police officers who work in the field with the people.
"I can safely say that there are two categories of employees - those who have served for a longer time and leave the system because they cannot meet the costs, their expectations and other employees who start in the system quickly find their way and they see what it's all about and leave too. The number is by no means small, it is mainly in the big cities," commented Vergil Hristov, a member of the SFSMVR Board of Directors.
One of the reasons - the low starting salary, which is currently around BGN 1,400. This mostly discourages people from big cities with a higher standard of living.
It is expected that for the first time from next year, the police salary will be tied to the average for the country, so that the new hires will start with about 2,300 BGN.
"The Ministry of the Interior is a system that must guarantee security. It takes care of security in these countries, and when some of its employees do not feel secure, at least in terms of their social status, it also reflects on their work," added Vergil Hristov.
"Still a very large percentage of them, over 80% are police because they want to serve, help and bring justice. The internal stress, the press they have, the lack of protection and a sense of security affect them very seriously and demotivate them," said Radostina Yakimova, director of the "Society and Security" Foundation.
According to the analysis of "Society and Security" there are areas in the country where there are not enough policemen in relation to the population. The disproportion is visible with the example of Vidin and Plovdiv - in the district with fewer people, there are more police officers per 100,000 people.
"They arrive at the minute as they say", added Ventsislav Okishelov, living in the village of Pokrayna, Vidinsko.
"These disproportions are largely due to the reforms, i.e. called insane, which actually over the years relied mainly on cutting states rather than doing analysis. An analysis of people's needs has not been done until now," said Radostina Yakimova, director of the "Society and Security" Foundation.
Another study by the "Society and Security" shows that there is still a decline in people's sense of security. However, according to the results, more than 51% of the respondents want an increase in the budget of the Ministry of the Interior.