Report Dispels Myth About Bulgaria's 'Underpaid' Police

Although Bulgaria has one of the lowest levels of overall public spending in the European Union, outcomes from this spending still lag behind the EU average, especially in policing and firefighting, a new World Bank report says.

The World Bank's spending review of the country's domestic security apparatus, completed on the invitation of the Bulgarian government and published on Sunday, says confidence in the police remains among the lowest in the EU - even though spending on the police is the highest in the region.

The review notes that most of this money goes on salaries and personnel, leaving little cash for the modernization of police equipment and systems.

The bank report says the purpose of the review was not to reduce the budget spent on public safety, but to improve efficiency and effectiveness.

Bulgaria allocated almost 1.3 billion levs (750 million euros) on internal security for 2018, over 4 per cent of the budget and equal to around 1.3 per cent of its GDP.

Surveys ordered by the bank show that citizens have little confidence in the effectiveness of the police.

Police and firefighters in turn, say that their effectiveness is constrained by poor equipment, the time spent on paperwork, extra responsibilities imposed by frequent changes in legislation, and by curtailed staff benefits, the report notes.

The review says one problem is that the Interior Ministry has devoted "an excessive number of staff" to administrative functions, due to a complicated organizational structure that results in the duplication of functions.

Over 47,000 people work for the Interior Ministry, of whom about 22,000 are active police officers, according to Eurostat data from 2015.

The bank report proposes reorganization and...

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