Worsening security in the city: The state must act!
08. 10. 2025
Bratislava, 8 October 2025 – Security is becoming one of the most important as well as one of the most difficult of topics. We are increasingly meeting with harassing behaviour, drug crime, verbal aggression and often physical conflicts on the streets. In this context, the mayor of the capital city, with the participation of the mayors of the city districts of Ružinov and Vrakuňa, today addressed a call to the government with specific demands that could help improve this situation.
It is not only residents of the city centre, which is usually associated with entertainment and nightlife, who are complaining about increasing aggression, harassment and conflicts in Bratislava. More and more complaints are coming from residents of once peaceful, urban neighbourhoods, too.
The rise in the number of people on the margins of income poverty due to state policies, the deteriorating mental health of society or increasing aggression on social networks can be observed over a longer period and are also being transferred to the physical space.
Said the mayor of the capital, Matúš Vallo:
“The situation radically worsened, however, after the government, with its amendment to the criminal code, practically legalised petty theft, which has subsequently led to further crime on the streets. My fellow mayors are telling me about this; businessmen are complaining, and the public is contacting us. It is happening everywhere in Slovakia, but Bratislava, as the capital city, provides sufficient anonymity and opportunities for such behaviour."
The worsening of the situation after the amendment to the criminal code was also confirmed by a resident of 500 bytov, one of Bratislava’s residential districts, located near the main bus station at Mlynské nivy.
Stated Ján Sabo, a resident of Bratislava’s of 500 bytov district:
“Unfortunately, the change to the Criminal Code plays into the hands of various groups that have intensified their criminal activity in the shopping centre and are using the money from these thefts to buy drugs. Both the demand and supply of narcotics have thus increased again. If we once made progress thanks to cooperation with the police, we must today say that the decrease in police patrols and milder sentences have caused the return of these problems."
The capital city is using all its options and competences to deal with this situation. It has increased the city police budget every year; in 2018 it was 8.8 million euros, and this year it is 17.4 million euros. At the same time, there are historically the most city police officers ever on the streets of the capital, and there will be even more after the budget increase next year. The very good cooperation of the city with the state police is also of great help. However, this is not enough to solve the problem of deteriorating security.
Said the mayor of the capital, Matúš Vallo:
“This is why the government must act first and foremost and should do so very quickly. The state must realise that it bears responsibility for the sharp deterioration of this situation. The work of city managers, mayors or local councils are not what is behind this."
Added Martin Chren, mayor of the Bratislava-Ružinov City District:
“It must be simply stated unequivocally that the amendment to the Criminal Code has contributed to this. I have recently met with several judges, prosecutors and police officers, and they all unanimously say that the problem is simply the raising of the financial threshold for a criminal act. We managed to get rid of this crime in the second district of Bratislava, but today it is returning, and we are powerless against it. There is no possibility that a police officer can be on every corner. Even if we were to pay any amount of money, it simply will not help. Without a change in the laws, without justice starting to work, we will not move on the issue of improving security in our city."
Therefore, the mayor, together with other city managers, issued a challenge to the government with specific demands and measures that need to be addressed. Among them, in particular, is **to amend the amendment to the Criminal Code, **for example, by lowering the minimum sum from which theft will again be a crime and reintroducing the principle of assessing repeated thefts as a crime. Another important requirement is to increase the number of state police officers in Bratislava, as well as to begin dealing with the renewal of arrests, altering the competencies of city and municipal police officers and even further to increase the synergy of cooperation between state and city police by sharing more information and databases on perpetrators of criminal activity.
Said Martin Chren, mayor of the Bratislava-Ružinov City District:
“It would also be greatly beneficial for us if the local government were given, for example, the option to ban the sale of alcohol in stores in the vicinity of which there is a systematic violation of public order. Further, the opportunity to regulate pawnshops and also a legal change that would, for example, force pawnshop operators to bear criminal liability for buying stolen goods, because this is a huge problem."
Concluded Martin Kuruc, mayor of the Bratislava-Vrakuňa City District:
“It is not normal for someone to bring a new sweater from a shopping centre to a pawn shop with the tag still on and for them to accept it without any problems. We likewise have the problem that they steal, for example, garbage cans with the city district label from the streets and then take them to a recycling centre. How is it possible that they will accept this at a recycling centre, when it is evident that it is owned by the local government? So, the solution is really just to appeal to the state to change the laws, change the legislation and, of course, increase the number of police officers."