Some six thousand repeater criminals were granted amnesty and they were running around the streets of Prague, so the city was not very safe. The Public Security had its Emergency Motorised Unit patrols ready and a special unit was established in Krakovska Street which was supposed to watch mainly over Wenceslas Square.
We plan to establish Prague’s Municipal Police, which would be under the management of the City Hall and its uniforms and powers would be different from the State Police. It would supervise public life,
said the mayor of that time Jaroslav Koran in August 1990.
They started in the centre
Prague 1 Town Hall did not wait. It considered the situation so alarming that it hired the security agency Pinkerton, which at least surveyed the basic places in Prague 1. The City feverishly held talks about how to ensure the safety of its citizens, because joint forces of the Public Security and the City Hall were not an option. In the end it was decided to establish the Municipal Police, which happened on 11th May 1992. The Municipal Police had 87 members and at its head was Rudolf Blazek, who had experience from the security agency Pinkerton, which had worked for Prague 1 Town Hall. The policemen, which were engaged mostly from local authorities’ public order divisions, gained their first experience in the unit in Krakovska Street. There they worked together with the members of the State Police, then they worked for a month at the Emergency Motorised Unit, which is based in Dablice and even today they operate from there.
First units are being formed
In October 1992, the first unit of the Municipal Police started its operation – it was the Cynology Unit. Its founder and chief was Josef Zalud, who is still at its head. Under his leadership the unit managed to build a training base for life-saving dogs. Nowadays Prague is the only city with life-saving dogs. Logically, after the Cynology Unit the Metro Unit was founded as well which since then has been supervising order in the metro. In 2000, the unit became a division with some two hundred men and it has still been expanding. Up to the present, two-men patrols survey all central stations of the metro during the whole time of its operation. Thanks to the Police Secondary School in Hrdlorezy the Municipal Police’s training centre was set up. Training has been taking place since the year 1993 on the Na Kundratce grounds.
The fast development of the Municipal Police, which started to take over some functions of the State Police, required a change in the organization. In 1994, the headquarters were moved to Korunni 98 and into the building which used to be the Ministry of Health, where it is nowadays together with the Medical Rescue Services. In 1995, five territorial headquarters were set up, which in 2000 changed into 15 district headquarters.
Closer to people
The key moment for the operation of the Municipal Police is definitely the setting up of the 156 telephone line, which is the fastest connection between citizens and the police. The line was set up at the end of the year 1994. The Municipal Police then came even closer to the inhabitants when the position of a local patrolling police official was established. People had called for it for many years. Each police official was allocated a clearly delimited area in the same way as we know it from the times of the First Republic until the 1950’s when the position was cancelled and replaced by allegedly more effective forms of police work. The fact remains, that uniforms in the streets are the best prevention of crime. This is why the Municipal Police officials decided to bring the uniforms back to the streets.
Nowadays, if needed, all citizens can turn to their local patrolling police officer and thanks to the good idea of Prague 7 Town Hall, all the citizens have their police officer’s mobile phone number. It was Prague 7 who first gave its patrolling police officers mobile phones and other Prague districts followed their example. The first local patrolling police officer appeared in 1993 in Prague 6. Officially, all Prague city districts established such patrols in 2001.
It is interesting to note that the equipment of local patrols has also changed so we can, for instance, see police officers on bicycles. This has been proved efficient mainly in places which are not easily accessible, such as Prokopske udoli. In January 2007, the Municipal Police also started its operation on the lines of the Prague Public Transport. Night trams are therefore safer and the news about drivers and passengers being attacked has almost disappeared from the daily news.