Kovarik: Minimum Age for Police Officers to Be Lowered, Name Tags Removed

Bratislava, May 15 (TASR) – The minimum age for being accepted to the police could be lowered from 21 to 18 in order to help expanding their ranks, while police officers should no longer wear name tags, Police Corps president Peter Kovarik has told TASR to present legislation that is currently being drawn up.

“According to current legislation, new officers are accepted at the age of 21. This causes us huge problems, as young people who finish secondary school find jobs, and after settling in life, they aren’t interested in joining the Police Corps any longer,” said Kovarik.

Meanwhile, the police will also be looking for university graduates after boosting financial investigation and analyst capacities at the national police headquarters.

As for the planned removal of name tags, Kovarik said that officers should continue being identifiable, but not by name tags, which many people photograph and post on social networks. This results in many threats being directed at individual officers, said Kovarik.