Požela About the Resonant Cases of Drug Dealers Targeting Children that Shaken Lithuania And Neno

"Sometimes we actually come across a very interesting phenomenon, you can't call it otherwise, when parents simply have unacceptable police measures to prevent the spread of drugs in schools," says Police Commissioner General Renatas Požėla about drug dealers who target children and parents who are reluctant to cooperate with the authorities About the criminal situation in Lithuania, high-profile cases that shook the country, the problem of the spread of drugs and the aging of the police organization - an interview with R.

Požėla on the lrt television program "Dienos tema" - Mr.

Požela, today you presented the criminogenic situation in Lithuania It turns out that 3,000 more crimes and criminal acts were registered in the country last year.

You say that there is nothing dramatic here, the situation remains stable Aren't you painting the picture too brightly? - I try to see, and our specialists, analysts, experts try to see the big picture.

We are talking about crime trends They unequivocally show that registered crime is decreasing.

It is very important for us that those lines that talk about serious and very serious crimes are decreasing But yes, last year is somewhat of an exception to this rule.

We associate this more with the post-pandemic period, we see similar trends outside Lithuania as well - similar processes, similar trends, that last year, compared to 2021, was marked by a certain growth But compared to 2019, the pre-pandemic period, this increase of 3,000 events is still minus 5,000.

As I mentioned, the general trends show that these numbers are decreasing - One is numbers, the other is people's general sense of security or what we hear in the public space.

In Vilnius, we had a high-profile case where a minor was raped during the day It turned out that parents began to buy and distribute gas canisters to minors, although it is illegal, others began to talk about self-defense groups.

Fortunately, the police managed to arrest the juvenile suspect Was this surgery difficult? - I think the police put forward the right versions, worked purposefully and identified a possible group of suspects.

I think that we managed to identify a possible suspect quickly enough Only at this minute we still don't have the final answers as to what happened there.

Yes, the pre-trial investigation was started based on the victim's testimony that she was possibly raped, but we are really working on it, trying to restore the overall picture Then, when we can fully tell what happened, we will definitely tell the public.

- It can be understood that there was no such rape, that there was a different kind of crime? - I mentioned the word "event" more in some show An event that is currently qualified under a specific article.

But I say, let's wait until the pre-trial investigation is over, then we will definitely have everything clear and we will definitely provide information to the public - Another resonant case - a teenager has not been found for more than a week.

Neris is being searched from Vilnius to Jonava, as you said today It was previously announced that the teenager's phone had been unlocked.

Did this help the investigation somewhat and at all, will it be possible to answer the questions of what happened here? - Well, in this kind of research, every detail, every circumstance is very important, sometimes worth its weight in gold Our analysts continue to piece together the possible picture.

However, despite the fact that huge forces are thrown in: both the police, both our partners firefighters and volunteers, the Rifle Association and the Red Cross, unfortunately, we cannot find the end of the thread, but we do not give up I already commented today that the geography of our search probably already covers half of Lithuania, Jonava, and probably beyond Jonava.

But I can't really say anything comforting at the moment We do what we can.

- Commissioner, as we said, criminal acts have increased - 3,000 more, but the number of police officers is decreasing, even every fifth job is empty even in big cities such as Vilnius or Klaipėda Will it not be the case in the future that there will be no one to call upon in an emergency? - Well, probably one of the strengths of the coalition is that we are not afraid to talk about our problems.

Maybe that's why certain problems are escalated quite often in the media and society Regarding that so-called incompleteness, we actually have a methodology for counting positions, which means how many positions are created and how many are filled.

The difference today is 18 percent However, we recalculate this methodology, include more of certain components, and apparently the numbers will change and the so-called incompleteness will be smaller.

- But the number of officers will not increase - Yes, we have that problem.

Although again, the profession of a police officer is quite attractive In the last two years, we have recruited 650 officers to the police.

But the problem is that more people are leaving and the police organization is getting old, so our goal is to stop the police organization from getting old On the scale of the European Union, our number per hundred thousand inhabitants corresponds to the average of the countries of the European Union.

Perhaps we would see no problem working with such a number, however, I have repeatedly said that the problem is the procedures, the scope of work Apparently, we need to look for a reserve or solutions in this place, so that our officer may not perform redundant work.

And then, apparently, again, it would be easier for us to organize activities with as many officers as we have - Mr.

Commissioner, it turned out that police supporters, shooters, are patrolling together with the officers in Vilnius, because it is not possible to form crews Doesn't it seem that this situation has already become critical? - Well, that's probably not why our colleagues are patrolling with us.

This is a fairly common practice in Scandinavian countries as well - However, the officers themselves say that there is a lack of colleagues, so they have to use colleagues from the riflemen.

- I will repeat again - it is a fairly common practice that we work together See, we worked together during the pandemic too, and in the same way the police came to the aid of other authorities in dealing with illegal migration.

But in order to ensure an effective response to events, in order to ensure our preventive patrolling, any help from shooters, sponsors, other institutions is really very important to us The Public Security Service, which started patrolling together with us, was also presented to the public as a kind of resonance, although this is nothing new, it is an old, common practice when this service comes to help perform police functions.

This Is Recorded In The Law Of This Service - Mr

Požela, you began to speak out loud that the use of narcotic substances is becoming more and more widespread, mainly among young people, and that drug dealers mainly target young people From what I understand from you, not all parents are interested in having crimes investigated, as if it's better for them not to even know what their child is doing.

- Unfortunately, this problem is spreading, it is global, it has no borders We used to say that these are the problems of the big cities, unfortunately, but now they are also the problems of the regions.

Since the problem is global, it must be solved globally The police are just one of the soldiers in the field here, but they are by no means the only one.

Indeed, pre-trial investigations into the illegal distribution of narcotics are increasing every year Our target, unfortunately, like drug dealers, is schools, where children are the target.

Where there is sincere, good cooperation with the school administration, with parents, with the same children, we are definitely able to achieve better results Unfortunately, this situation is not everywhere and where we are left alone, we have a completely different situation.

And as you mentioned, sometimes we actually encounter a very interesting phenomenon, you can't call it otherwise, when parents simply have unacceptable police measures to prevent the spread of drugs in schools - Mr.

Požela, another problem raised by the officers themselves - police cars are no longer prohibited by the insurance If the officer rushes to the incident, if he gets into a traffic accident, he may later be charged for alleged damages, that you damaged the car yourself because you hit something.

Does it seem normal to you and is it all due to poverty and lack of funding? - No, not from a lack, it's just that we have calculated, assessed how many such incidents occur, and certainly each case is dealt with individually, but perhaps such fear is common among officers - Here is a kind of warning: don't be in a hurry, why are you rushing to the scene if something happens, you pay yourself - Even though you are driving a vehicle with beacons, you must still do it responsibly.

When we look at cases where officers damage official vehicles, these are very often cases that have nothing to do with going to the scene It is entering and exiting the garage, damage to some kind of gate, sometimes it is a loss of attention at the wheel.

I don't think there is a big problem in general and officers feel insecure when cars are not covered by comprehensive insurance - Prosecutor, one more question about Bartošević's history of pedophilia.

The Seimas is trying to find out who leaked the information, the prosecutors will not investigate, the general prosecutor said that it was not really leaked from the prosecutor's office, the Speaker of the Seimas insists that it was not from her office On the other hand, the police conduct a pre-trial investigation, prosecutors control.

Maybe you know what leaked, maybe we should look for those possible suspects in the police, maybe there are many people out there who knew that such an investigation was going on? - Well, the General Prosecutor's Office spoke on this issue yesterday Due to the pre-trial investigation, apparently, in a certain sense, the question may have been closed.

Of course, I understand that this decision can be appealed and the higher authorities can re-examine this issue and come back As for the police, I've already mentioned that we've taken a bit of stock in our situation.

On this day, I have no such assumptions or data that any of the police officers may have acted illegally - Maybe you have a version of where the leak came from? - I won't answer.

Questions - to the General Prosecutor's Office, which tried to answer those questions yesterday - Mr.

Commissioner, what is your relationship with your former comrade Saulius Skvernelis, who, after becoming a politician, are you criticized more and more often? - We always appreciate criticism, criticism is the impetus for moving forward Well, colleague Saulius Skvernelis is a politician, politicians solve their own issues.

I am a representative of law enforcement, it is natural that sometimes there are observations, remarks, criticism I look at it very normally.

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