Tom Devine, a US advocate for whistleblowers, has helped thousands of whistleblowers in his long career but the Slovak government’s current attempts to strip police officer-whistleblowers of their right to protection is something that he has never seen before. The expert notes that the Fico government’s actions targeting a group of whistleblowing police officers are illegal.
In an interview with The Slovak Spectator, he also talks about cases he has worked on in the past, the importance of a whistleblower protection office, and why solidarity with whistleblowers matters.
Have you witnessed a situation in which a government would withdraw the right of protection to police officers who become whistleblowers?
In 45 years working with whistleblowers, it’s unprecedented for the government to cancel anti-corruption rights for the police force. The situation in Slovakia is a new one for me.
The Slovak government says that police officer-whistleblowers don’t need any legal protection for reporting illegal activities as it’s their job to uncover them. Isn’t the government right?
Well, the police are required to be covered by whistleblower rights under the EU Whistleblower Directive. That was passed in 2019. It’s a legal requirement for all member nations of the EU. Twenty-four out of 27 member states have passed whistleblower laws to implement the directive. No other country has removed the police force from the law’s coverage because that would be flatly illegal. The EU...
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