More police resignations than ministry expected

The daily Právo reports that hundreds more police will be voluntarily retiring this year than the Interior Ministry has anticipated. Citing police statistics, Právo writes that the presidium expects nearly 2,000 employees to leave the force at the end of 2010. Only recently Interior Minister Radek John said he expected roughly 1,200 departures. The number of retirement applications apparently spiralled last week, as police employees sought to take advantage of benefits and severance pay available to them only if they resigned by October. Some 950 policemen availed themselves of that possibility at the last moment; for comparison, about 1100 retired earlier in the year. The Ministry of the Interior has planned to cut police salaries by 10%, in line with cuts across state employees’ salaries.