Crime rate goes down in Romania

The Romanian Interior Ministry has presented its activity report for last year

Roxana Vasile, 16.03.2017, 13:25

Crime has significantly gone down in Romania for the fifth year in a row now, says the 2016 activity report presented by the Interior Ministry. Crime, domestic violence, robbery and theft have diminished but what is also important is that last year was the fourth year in a row when deaths caused by road accidents remained under 2,000. Another notable performance was registered in late June, when customs officers in the Romanian Black Sea port of Constanta seized the largest quantity of drugs in this country: 2,663 kilograms of cocaine.

Concurrently, Interior Ministry structures set as their main priority in 2016 preventing and fighting economic and financial crime and corruption. As a result over 200 organized crime groups were dismantled. Here is now Interior Minister Carmen Dan with more on the issue.

Carmen Dan: “Actions taken to prevent and fight tax evasion, corruption and smuggling activities have mainly focused on how to recover prejudices, a fact that contributed to an increase in the state budget. Activities carried out by the Ministry structures to fight economic and financial crimes have led to the discovery of 32 thousand such cases and the precautionary measures taken went up to almost 4 billion lei.”

According to the aforementioned report it is the shortage of personnel, which hinders the good functioning of this ministry, but, as Carmen Dan has pointed out, the professionalism, integrity and commitment of its employees makes up for this shortage. But what are the other things the ministry needs in order to improve its activity?

Carmen Dan: “Such a condition requires strengthening the authority of the ministry employees through ongoing training, proper equipment, and a clear and coherent legislative framework. Another thing that could contribute to improved performance is a better status in terms of rights and obligations, including salaries; the future salary law, which the present government has assumed, intends to do exactly that: to ensure the necessary motivational framework including for the Interior Ministry employees who are working every day for the benefit of citizens and for the safety of us all.”

The Interior Ministry objectives this year are to ensure public order and the safety of Romania’s citizens. In the present regional and global context a partnership between the Interior Ministry and the Romanian Intelligence Service is vital and the two institutions are willing to strengthen this partnership. Also in 2017, the Interior Ministry intends to continue its actions aimed at protecting the patrimony and increasing its ability to handle emergency situations. Another priority is to consolidate its role in strengthening Romania’s presence worldwide, including inside the European Union.