Speech of the Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek on the Occasion of Opening a New Police Station in Benediktská Street on 6th February 2008

Moderator: Let me wish you a nice day and welcome you at today's re-opening of a newly reconstructed building of the police station Benediktská. Above all, I would like to welcome our dear guests, Mr. Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek, Mr. Minister of Interior Ivan Langer, Mr. Police President Oldřich Martinů and the manager of the Project P1000, Mr. Vítek. Now, I give the floor to the Prime Minister.

Mirek Topolánek, Prime Minister: Thank you for the floor. I think that all political parties, not only before elections, but also in the course of the election period repeat the word "security", they inflect it and have it as their spell. Of course, one of my five prime minister's priorities is the "Safe Citizen in the Safe State". I am of the opinion that there is those rhetoric on the one hand and a concrete project that implement it on the other hand. The project P1000 is just the project which corresponds to our idea of a safe man in a safe state. Thousand of police stations are being modernized in the framework of this project. Those high-sounding words on security, protection of rights, property and lives which politicians and journalists use with pleasure and very often, sound sometimes as clichés; they sometimes sound rather banally. I think that the reality need not sound so banally that it need not be a cliché that it can be a realization of those great visions and high-sounding words, which politicians and journalists use so often. I would like us to demonstrate the government's vision of security on this concrete case on this police station in the concrete town, so that we know that work of policemen means nowadays increased security of citizens of this city.
This police station is of one of fifty or perhaps fifty-one police stations which were reconstructed during the last year. I remember I have visited one police station in Hradec Králové and one in a different town, and I must say that when the Minister of Interior, Ivan Langer whom I want to thank here, brought up this issue, I did not believe that we would be able to implement it. There were 51 of them reconstructed in the last year, there will be 120 of them in this year and we will invest in the Project P1000 in total 3,6 billion crowns. Those 3,6 billion crowns are slightly less than a half of financial means which were allocated by the previous government to the financial rehabilitation of virtual debts of the CSOB bank. Every government has its priorities and we preferred to use money for these police stations. The fact that policemen have access to the Internet sounds a bit banally. Nowadays some 10% of police stations have access to the Internet, but the vision of this project is 100% of police stations with the access to the Internet, because if policemen are to do their work well, if they are to work for citizens and not to leave their jobs, they must have basic conditions for their work, I mean a civilized working conditions. But not only policemen should have relevant conditions for their work, but also citizens who come to police stations. They should not get in tough with recidivists or with persons who committed a crime. We would like them to come in better environment, which would make their situation easier; and not only for them but also for policemen and investigators. I would like to thank Ivan Langer who was a member of the previous Topolánek´s government, for implementation of this project. I would like to appreciate the fact that this project has quite different parameters than the project "Internet for Schools". The price of the access of police stations to the Internet is only a fraction of that which was spent for the project "Internet for Schools". I would like to thank for successful implementation of the Project P1000 and number of other projects, for a real reform of the Police and their working conditions, so that it would be for the benefit of citizens of this country. I would like to thank once more all those who are participating in this project and I will give the floor to the others, because there were more that praise of mine than they are used to hear. And I would not like to .overpraise them. Thank you for your attention.