Minister Requests Daily Intelligence Briefings From Police
Slovakia’s Minister of Interior, Matúš Šutaj Eštok, has begun requesting daily situational reports from the country’s police force, a move that is raising questions about potential overreach and its impact on ongoing investigations. The practice, which began on Monday, March 16, 2026, requires police to deliver a summary of events and planned activities with potential security, media, or reputational impact on the ministry. This development underscores the minister’s desire for up-to-date information, but similarly sparks concerns about political interference in police function.
According to sources, the instruction was sent to regional police directorates, the Criminal Police Department, and the elite National Crime Agency (ÚBOK). The directive, issued by police leadership, calls for the “summarization and regular sending of information about events and activities that can be expected or are taking place on a daily basis and may have a security, media or reputational impact on the Ministry of the Interior.”
The police force declined to comment on the internal procedures, stating, “The Police Force does not publicly comment on issued internal regulations and internal management processes of the Ministry of Interior of the Slovak Republic.”
Although officials maintain the requests won’t compromise ongoing investigations, some experts disagree. Ľubomír Daňko, a former head of the National Crime Agency who now works with the Stop Corruption Foundation, expressed concern that the broad scope of the request could include information about active criminal cases. “According to my opinion, the request is formulated so generally that it covers every activity, including criminal proceedings. And that is not right at all,” Daňko said. He specifically cautioned against the minister being informed about planned law enforcement operations.
“In my opinion, the minister should not have access to information about what is being prepared, who will be detained, because that is unthinkable,” Daňko stated. He pointed out that the directive specifically mentions reputational impact, which is often most significant in criminal proceedings, particularly those involving politically connected individuals.
“If he wanted to recognize about the security situation or traffic actions, I would understand that. But the biggest reputational risk is criminal proceedings, especially if it concerns people with a political background, for example, oligarchs. The minister should not have such information. Practice will show what the police will have to report,” Daňko explained.
Daňko also warned that providing the minister with advance notice of planned operations could potentially violate the Criminal Procedure Code. “Let’s say they want to detain and accuse his party colleague from Hlas for some illegal criminal activity, and the minister has to know in advance. That seems really ridiculous to me, but also in conflict with the Criminal Procedure Code, because it clearly defines who is authorized to receive information from criminal proceedings, and the minister is definitely not one of them,” he said.
The current request echoes practices from previous administrations, specifically during the Smer party’s time in power, which Daňko said were detrimental to effective policing. “We, as investigators, always criticized when superiors asked us for such information. Police officers perceived it very negatively, and there was even suspicion that leaks were coming through this channel. If operations failed, the assumption was that it was because they had to be reported to superiors. It happened that investigators kept operations secret until the last minute to prevent their case from being thwarted. We had this in the past, and it would not be reasonable to return to it.”
