The Directorate for the Investigation of
\nOrganised Crime and Terrorism and the police continue investigations in Caracal
\ninto the case that shook this small town in southern Romania. Gheorghe Dica, a
\ncar mechanic in his 60s, admitted to killing two girls of 15 and 18, Alexandra
\nand Luiza, after abducting them from the street, locking them up and raping
\nthem. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
In the absence of regular
\nupdates from the authorities, the few known facts about the case are being
\nintensely debated in the public realm, with the public acting a collective
\ndetective trying to make sense of this increasingly complicated case. Social
\nnetworks are full of the most macabre of scenarios. At the same time, public
\nopinion is increasingly outraged at the way in which the authorities have
\nacted, while evidence of the latter’s unprofessional behaviour keeps surfacing.
\nThe uncle of one of the victims, who is a public figure, has published on
\nFacebook the reports of the desperate calls made by his niece to the emergency
\nhotline. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Alexandra, who was abducted
\nlast Wednesday, the next day managed to call the emergency line, which is
\nadministered by the Special Telecommunications Service (STS). The Service not
\nonly was not able to track the girl’s location, but the person who took her
\ncall and then the police officer her call was transferred to both failed to
\nhandle the situation with professionalism. After entering three wrong addresses
\nindicated by the Special Telecommunications Service, it took the police another
\n19 hours to enter the house of the suspect. The police blamed the delay on the
\nprosecutor in charge of the case at the time, who, invoking the law, did not
\nallow them to enter the suspect’s house before 6 am on Friday. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
This unacceptable series of
\nmistakes has already led to dismissals and resignations. The interior minister
\nNicolae Moga has also resigned to salvage some of the image of the home office
\nwhose reputation has suffered owing to the deficient activity of some of its
\nemployees. The director of the Special Telecommunications Service Ionel Vasilca
\nhas resigned, the head of the Romanian Police Ioan Buda has been sacked, as
\nhave been a number of local police chiefs and the prefect of Olt county. In
\nparallel, a report presented on Tuesday in a meeting of the County’s Supreme
\nDefence Council concluded that the institutions responsible for citizens’
\nsafety have failed, through a long list of unacceptable errors, to ensure a
\nfundamental right provided for in the Romanian Constitution, namely the right
\nto life. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The Romanian president Klaus
\nIohannis has requested the government to propose, by the end of August,
\nmeasures, norms and procedures of rapid reaction and coordination to prevent
\ndelays such as those that occurred in the Caracal case. For her part, prime
\nminister Viorica Dancila has mentioned possible legislative measures to
\neliminate the dysfunctions of the structures in charge of citizens’ safety.
\nMihai Fifor, who has been appointed interim interior minister, has received a
\nmandate from the prime minister to initiate a radical process of fighting crime
\nand reforming the system. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Investigations into the killings in Caracal continue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":109,"featured_media":82605,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[34932],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-82604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-caracal"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n