Committee fails to select new police chief in first round

The committee meeting to select a new police chief has rejected both candidates in the first round and is to meet again on Wednesday to consider three others. The selection procedure – proposed by Interior Minister Radek John – has evoked controversy on the Czech political scene and divided the governing coalition. Prime Minister Petr Nečas said it was unacceptable for the future police chief to be co- selected by those lower down the hierarchy and legal experts have expressed the view that such a committee might even be in breach of the law. Former interior minister Ivan Langer even accused Mr. John of tailoring the selection procedure to a single candidate, coincidentally one of the two rejected in the first round.