Hungarian municipalities satisfied with police

Local governments asked in a recent survey to evaluate the work of the police on a scale of 1-5 have given an average 4.4, Bence Rétvári, state secretary at the interior ministry, said on Tuesday.

In the survey, conducted by the police every four years, 1,338 municipalities returned questionnaires, Rétvári said.

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Municipalities awarded 4.5 points for crime prevention activities, 4.6 for hotline services, and 4.3 for the effectiveness of investigations.

In the past 12 years the number of crimes reported has been reduced by nearly two thirds “thanks to new legislation and efforts to reinforce the police”, Rétvári said. He noted that the number of crime cases had fallen from 447,000 in 2010 to 154,000 last year.

He added that police officers would enjoy a pay hike in September costing the central budget a total 49 billion forints (EUR 125m), while they would get another 32 billion forints in January.