Police: Schools Started Flagging More Incidents after Staskov School Tragedy

Bratislava, 5 October (TASR) - Schools have started reporting further incidents to police following the last week's attack at a primary school in the village of Staskov in Cadca district (Zilina region), doing so at a higher rate than before, police representatives told a press conference on Monday, adding that these involve cases that schools had previously dealt with in other ways. "On Monday (28 September), we recorded five cases. On Tuesday (29 September), the day on which this incident occurred, there were seven cases, but on Wednesday (30 September) there were 18 cases, followed by 17 on Thursday (1 October) and 18 on Friday (2 October)," stated head of the Public Order Police Department of the Police Corps Presidium Stanislav Hromadka. "We take this to mean that following the incident, certain behaviour which was previously dealt with in schools - I wouldn't call it 'tolerated', but simply assessed in a different way - began to be reported more frequently," he added, explaining that the incidents mainly involved verbal and physical assaults. Most of them occurred at primary schools and in 68 percent of cases, the perpetrator was under the age of 15. Police Corps President Jana Maskarova said that in addition to the Internal Affairs Inspectorate (UIS), she also ordered a probe into response by the police, but declined to provide further details due to ongoing investigation. Peter Brndiar, deputy director of the Office for Combating Organised Crime (UBOK) of the Police Corps Presidium, said that investigators are now also seeking to establish the motive behind the attack in Staskov. However, he declined to confirm whether any radicalisation materials had been found during a house search. The police representatives also warned about the spread of hoaxes and unfounded theories about the attack on social media. "Only the investigation will reveal the truth and establish the real motive behind it," stressed Maskarova. Brndiar added that police are also investigating individuals who are spreading false information on social media. At this point, he wasn't able to confirm whether the attacker had been bullied at school. The knife attack took place at the primary school in Staskov last Tuesday (29 September), claiming two victims. A 61-year-old teacher died from her injuries at the scene, while a female pupil died in a hospital on Thursday (1 October). A 13-year-old eighth-grader, who was detained by police, is suspected of carrying out the attack. Criminal proceedings have been launched concerning an aggravated offence of murder. Five days before the attack, police received a criminal complaint from the primary school concerning an incident that had taken place there. The conduct and actions of the police officers following the receipt of the criminal complaint have been examined by UIS. jrg