Rudolf Blažek, the First Deputy Mayor, is for already three terms of office in charge of the City’s security. We asked him few questions.
- Prague has not been in charge of the professional fire brigade since 2000 as this is now managed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Is City Prague still accountable for citizens’ protection against fire?
The city is primarily responsible for fire prevention and it organizes volunteer fire corps. These corps were founded by city districts but the small ones that have just few hundred citizens, are not able to finance their technology, they don’t have enough means to finance necessary facilities. Therefore Prague contributes towards the cost of fuel, walkie-talkies, repairs and we also buy two or three big fire brigade trucks annually. We also help with the renovation and the building of new fire stations, usually two a year. Part of being a volunteer fireman is able to stand for their professional colleagues if necessary and therefore this year we are going to buy about ten vehicles designed for technical interventions.
- At Argentinska Street there is still a fire station that was built in the nineteen forties. It used to serve as an assembly point of the wehrmacht” (Unified German Armed Forces) and later on as a provisional fire station – that was in the time when bombing of allied forces started endangering war industry. The last but one similar station in Jinonice was replaced by the City a few years ago. What is going to happen with the one in the Argentinska Street?
Professional firemen, who have their posts there, fall within government responsibility and the City can’t afford to finance them. On top of that, this station is the biggest one and in a way a key one because of its strategic location. The building of the station in Jinonice was a reminder of times when the City was responsible for professional firemen also. We invested 200 million crowns in it. It is estimated that the Argentinská fire station would cost over 300 million crowns. Our budget for security is 250 million for a year and that includes the cost of city police, volunteer firemen, maintenance of flood protections and the city surveillance system that is used also by the state police…Let’s just remind you that when professional firemen were moved under the supervision of the Ministry, the city transferred one milliard worth holdings into the Ministry. As you see such an investment would go beyond the scope of cooperation. I can imagine a kind of participation, for example the rescue service centre could become a part of the fire station (it would move from the street Dukelských hrdinů). I also think that the state could receive help from private investors who started with the development of the development area Holešovice and around the train station Bubny.
After all building of the new fire station increases the security of the area and therefore would help to increase value of new buildings. At the moment the state doesn’t want to do anything about it in spite of the fact that City Prague has already commissioned a first project that was drawn on the basis of the data provided by Prague firemen.
- The City Police that fall within your remit, has for a long time focused not only on its basic duties but also has started conducting checks of night transport lines because of attacks on both passengers and drivers. On top of that a specialized division that works in the metro was created. Are you going to do more and do you think that it is necessary for policemen to deal with these matters instead of security agencies or inspectors?
It goes without saying that the security of passengers is one of the priorities for the City police. Inspectors have limited rights; they can check tickets and a security agency wouldn’t stand a big chance in dealing with the situation. Policemen have rights to check, escort and even detain a person who assaulted a driver or passenger. Not only do we keep an eye on the neighborhood of the Main Train Station as well as on night bus and tram lines, we also decided to create a division that would take care of security in the metro. These days it includes 140 policemen and in future we expect that this number will increases to 200 or even up to 220. That means that 50 policemen will be on one shift and 25 patrols will monitor the situation not only on main stations and changing stations but they will also cover the whole area of the metro in a way that at least one patrol will be allocated to two or three stations. At the moment we are also negotiating with the Prague Public Transport Company about the replacement of the surveillance system which was originally build to monitor passengers’ security – e.g. check that anyone didn’t fall in the railway yard and that everybody stands outside of the danger zone etc. In central stations the surveillance cameras are rather outdated and we would like them to be replaced by the same as those 64 that were placed on new stations. These are part of the city surveillance system and also help monitoring pickpockets and other matters. The old surveillance system has many technical deficiencies because of the time when it was created. These pitfalls include problems with recording and coverage of certain areas. The new system will be connected to the head office in the Kongresova Street and in Koruni Street. At the same time a special control station should be created where specific cases would be dealt with, such as pickpockets’ attacks etc. These stations should serve policemen who work in the metro. It goes without saying that such a system would be beneficial for the Public Transport Company as well as for the security of transport. The first line that should have this new system is the line C and firstly in changing stations. Gradually also other station will be equipped with the system according to the risk they are under.
- The city can also experience emergency situations. We have already been through floods but there are others, such as a major accident of a heavy truck. On the basis of past experience, the City drew an emergency plan according to which the truck transport should be stopped in a case of emergency. This plan immediately met with criticism from some of Central Bohemian Mayors who are saying that this is a populist decision. What is your view?
The discussion, if the ban on the truck entry is a populist decision, it is not suitable. Last year a similar situation happened only twice and therefore it is not the case that we would endanger Central Bohemian towns with the increase of truck traffic. If we had for example prohibited transit of trucks through Prague, let’s say between 7 and 11 a.m. and 3 and 5 p.m., then I wouldn’t have been surprised if that would have met with objections. It is said that the biggest “parking-site” for trucks is the highway D 1 but the worst situation is on the Prague Southern link road where there passes about ten times more trucks than it does, for example, through Chlumec above Cidlina where people protested by forming a human chain. Obviously I don’t want to trivialize the situation of citizens living in Chlumec, I just want to make people realize that, regarding truck traffic, Prague deals with quite a difficult situation and that the City has no intention of solving the situation at the expense of someone else…
- Prague has quite a well-developed system of emergency management. Is there something that could be improved?
There is always something that can be improved. Regarding the dealing with emergency situations, our plans were developed on the basis of varied experience such as floods. At the moment we are dealing with the automatization of the emergency management process. To put it bluntly – this means speeding up of steps undertaken in the case of emergency with the help of computers. Emergency staff members will no more have to rely on the printed guideline describing steps that should be taken in cases of emergency. These steps will appear on the computer and it will guide them through the situation. This is certainly a time saving procedure. Let’s imagine that there is, for example, an accident in a chemical plant in Kralupy. Although we are prepared for such an incident and there is a guideline describing what to do, still the automatization of these steps saves precious moments. The same situation would be in a case of floods, a terrorist attack and other emergencies. The next step will be the foundation of a central operating centre where all elements of the emergency system would be concentrated together with representatives of the Public Transport Company, Technical Administration of Roads etc. This centre could become a central control station for the city. Regarding finances, the necessary means are already allocated by the EU. It hasn’t been decided yet where the new station should be located. It certainly can’t be Na bojišti where there is an out dated and small traffic control centrer.
- Employees and facilities belonging to private companies sometimes help to deal with emergency situations. How is it for example during floods? Do they do it for free or are they paid by the city?
It depends on the situation and the individual location. There are companies that made it their responsibility to e.g. built flood protections such as sailors who have their base close to Charles Bridge. In case of such an emergency we of course rely especially on policemen, volunteer firemen and employees of other city companies and organisations. Naturally we also have contracts with major Prague companies about supplying us with technology and people in a case of emergency, all that is also secured financially. Surely the property that such cooperation helps to save is immeasurably bigger than any financial obligations.
Oskar Exner