Interior Ministry Expands Its Network of Information Offices for Crime Victims

Poprad, 29 January (TASR) - The Interior Ministry is expanding its network of information offices for victims of crime, said State Secretary Lucia Kurilovska on Thursday, adding that the ministry is responding to a long-identified need to provide victims with accessible, sensitive and coordinated assistance directly in the regions. The first such contact point in the second stage was opened at the Client Centre in the town of Poprad (Presov region) on Thursday. A total of eight will be added by April. The first office was opened in Banska Bystrica in 2019, and there is now one in every region. They handle an average of 1,000 clients per year. Kurilovska expects this number to grow in the future thanks to improved accessibility. "We'll have 16 full-fledged offices that will operate every working day. We've also established a criminology institute that will develop crime maps within the country, allowing us to identify where we need to open additional offices," said Kurilovska. The workplaces will be staffed by trained employees with experience in psychology or social work, or by former police officers who know how to proceed within the scope of the law-enforcement bodies. "We provide advice and recommendations on the rights of victims and refer them to various types of institutions depending on the risks we identify. We then go out into the field to seek out vulnerable individuals, raise awareness and educate them," stated Jozef Halcin, head of the Interior Ministry's crime prevention office. The most common target groups include seniors, who make up almost 26-29 percent of the clients. They mainly seek assistance in connection with property crime, fraud and violent crime. am/df