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Czech Republic: Litvínov police and social workers cause scandal

16 September 2013
4 minute read

The Litvínov social welfare department, accompanied by municipal police and a reporter with a video camera, has been cracking down on allegedly troubled families, most of them Romani, to determine whether they have been using alcohol or taking drugs in the presence of their children. According to Zuzana Candigliota, the legal director of the League of Human Rights (Liga lidských práv), the municipal police and social welfare department staffs have exceeded their powers.  

The families from Janov housing estate and elsewhere in Litvínov were visited by the social welfare department, accompanied by police, after 8 PM without receiving a precise explanation of the aim of the monitoring. "It is evident that from the beginning this monitoring was not legally justified – for example, it was not done to check up on the children’s health – but that it was rather a series of spot checks with elements of harassment and interfering with the privacy of these families in the evening hours, including the presence of a ‘commando’ of municipal police and someone recording everything on video," Candigliota said.

Both news server Aktuálně.cz and news server Romea.cz have decided not to republish the video footage. As of this evening, despite repeated requests, the social welfare department of the town of Litvínov has not yet made a statement about the behavior of its social fieldworkers or the video.

Zdeněk Urban, commander of the municipal police, said the situation was a standard one. "We are investigating this situation. We performed the intervention in a problematic area and the municipal police was merely assisting the social welfare department. We usually record our interventions because we have the right to do so. The video footage that has been posted online, however, was made by the reporter who was called upon to record the monitoring. He then published it on his own responsibility on the website E-Mostecko.cz," Urban said.

The legal director of the League says the municipal police had no right to invite a reporter to join the maneuvers. "Such behavior is simply absurd. This wasn’t about behavior committed in public. If the police brought along a reporter and permitted him to record this monitoring, then they de facto facilitated interfering with the privacy of families who had done absolutely nothing wrong," said Candigliota.

The video, entitled "Social welfare department and cops focus on families, mainly parents, to see if they are getting drunk or high" was published by news server E-Mostecko.cz despite the express refusal of the families depicted in it. The footage shows social services staffers calling on parents to undergo a breath alcohol test.

When the parents refuse, the staffers threaten them by saying such a response will be automatically understood by the social welfare department to mean the parents fear a positive result. They end their interactions by warning parents that their children could be taken away from them.

Cops forced entry

The law on the legal and social protection of children instructs parents to cooperate with child welfare authorities to protect the child’s best interests and rights and to facilitate visits by child welfare authorities to the child’s residence and particular living space. However, this is only to be done in cases where it is absolutely necessary and essential to protect the health, life, or rights of a child.

"From the video we can see that it is highly likely that those suppositions were not met. The visit took place in the late evening hours without any previous warning and it was not clear what the purpose of the visit was. The family was not informed of their rights by either the police or the social workers. It is doubtful the purpose was to protect minor children, from the video it is obvious that the social worker is saying to women, for example, ‘Good evening, is your husband home?’ while the policeman is adding ‘Who were you just talking to?’" said Candigliota.

"Moreover, the police evidently forced their way into one apartment without the free consent of the family, even though by law police only have the right to enter a dwelling when someone’s health or life are at risk or when there is the risk of large-scale damage to property. While in the dwelling, the police can only ward off the immediate threat of danger. By all indications nothing of the sort was the case here," Candigliota said.

The League says the families can complain to the head of the child welfare authorities and to the mayor regarding the local police procedure. "It would be the most appropriate if they were to turn to the Public Defender of Rights (the ombudsman)," Candigliota advised the families.

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