The reorganisation of police schools failed to deliver the expected savings or greater efficiency in the training of police officers

Press release on audit No 18/30 – 9 September 2019


The Supreme Audit Office has examined the management of secondary and higher police schools of the Ministry of the Interior (MoI) from 2012 to 2018. It has also focused on the reorganisation of police schools carried out by the MoI in 2013 and 2016. Auditors have found that these reorganisations yielded neither planned savings, nor the expected streamlining of police education. On the other hand, the cost of police education increased in subsequent years. In the case of police schools, the audit revealed deficiencies in the transfer, inventory, and depreciation of assets.

The first reorganisation of police schools was carried out by the MoI in 2013, due to a reduction in the number of systemised posts for police officers and the suspension of recruitment between 2010 and 2011. This move was to save CZK 144 million. In the end, a lower saving of over CZK 115 million was requested from the schools. However, even this could not be achieved. Moreover, since 2013, the cost of police training had risen from CZK 565 million up to CZK 761 million in 2018, while at the same time the number of graduates in basic training of police officers had decreased considerably. In 2018, it did not reach the level of the years 2013 and 2014.

In 2016, a further reorganisation took place and, as part of it, a new police service aimed at training police officers took over the basic training from police schools. In fact, teaching is still ongoing at the premises of the police schools.

In particular, secondary police schools are intended to prepare graduates for recruitment to the police. However, between 2013 and 2017, they accounted for only less than 2 % of the total number of 5 160 candidates admitted. The MoI did not have a comprehensive plan to increase the interest of these graduates to join the police. Thus, the MoI was unable to obtain the numbers of new police officers as laid down in the Development Plan for the Police of the Czech Republic until 2020.

The recruitment procedures for the police do not take into account that graduates from security legal activity specialisation should be recruited preferably. This specialisation is taught besides two police schools also at 29 other secondary schools. Already in 2012, the MoI calculated that it could save up to CZK 262 million per year through the adoption of graduates in this field. The thing is that graduates could have shorter basic training. The MoI had also failed to meet its objectives with regard to improving the efficiency of police training by the end of the audit. For example, it did not have a comprehensive system of training requirements for members and staff of the police.

The Police Schools sought to achieve the savings required by the MoI in particular by dismissing employees. Only for the redundancy payments and salaries of the reserve police officers, CZK 10.5 million were paid out in 2012 and 2013. This represents 7% of the amount that the MoI wanted to save in 2013. In the following years, the schools had to address the acute staff shortages for the basic training of police officers, as the government decided to increase the number of police officers. Therefore, agreements on work performed outside the employment contract were concluded. For example, the number of such agreements had increased twice since 2012 for the School in Holešov.

The reasons for the reorganisation had not been evaluated by the MoI, including what regards improving the training of police officers, nor in terms of efficiency. The MoI did not know, for example, what the real costs per student were.

Deficiencies in the management of assets were detected by auditors in the police schools in Prague and Holešov. The errors concerned mainly the transfer of assets in the reorganisation, inventory of assets, and depreciation of assets.

Communication Department
Supreme Audit Office

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