Police officer’s suicide in Prague: family doubts official account

A young Czech police officer named Petr, originally from Chropyně near Kroměříž, died tragically in Prague: according to those close to him, he shot himself with his personal Glock pistol in his service flat in Letná on 4 February. The police's internal investigation attributes the cause to personal relationship problems, but his family is convinced the real reason lay in his work.

Family doubts the official version

According to one of Petr's closest relatives, the police presidium's internal control department closed the case, attributing the tragedy to relationship problems with a girlfriend. “But we know that's complete nonsense. He didn't have a girlfriend, more of an acquaintance, and it wasn't a serious relationship,” the relative said. He added that the family is convinced the real cause lies in something that happened to Petr at work. “We think something must have happened to Petr at the presidium, that something really did happen on the job,” he said.

A career in the police and Interpol

Petr was born in Chropyně near Kroměříž and, according to those close to him, had no personal, professional or health problems before that fateful day — on the contrary, he had a promising police career ahead of him and took his job seriously. After finishing school in 2014, he moved to Prague, where he graduated from the police academy. While still a student, he caught the eye of a senior officer, and in 2015 Petr was recruited to the foreigners' police. From there he moved to the Directorate for International Police Cooperation — the Czech branch of Interpol — where he handled expert and coordination work, and later to the investigation support department, where he helped train police officers across Czechia, particularly in rolling out modern information-sharing systems. Thanks to his strong language skills, Petr also worked as a liaison officer for the Czech Interpol branch covering southern Europe — Spain and Italy.

A post in The Hague that never materialised

From the end of October last year, Petr spent three months on a placement in The Hague, in the Netherlands, where he worked as a liaison officer for the Czech police at Interpol. He returned home on 31 January this year, shortly after his thirty-first birthday. According to those close to him, shortly before he came back a senior officer told Petr not to count on a permanent post in The Hague — such a position, he was told, would only be available in five or six years, even though his colleagues in The Hague had been very pleased with him. “He was irritated, I'd even say angry. He told us a manager had advised him not to count on a permanent post in The Hague,” recalls one of Petr's relatives. He added that Petr had been expecting to return to the Netherlands soon for a longer stint: he had been sent there on the placement precisely so he could familiarise himself with the post, which was meant to become permanent, and he had been genuinely excited about it. Out of hurt pride, Petr didn't want to discuss the matter any further.

The circumstances of his death

Four days after returning from The Hague, Petr was due to leave for a week-long holiday with his parents in Moravia that had been planned in advance, and which he had been looking forward to — but he never arrived. His family started trying to reach him on 4 February: he wasn't answering calls or messages, and the next morning friends went to his service flat in Prague's Letná district. They couldn't get in straight away, as the key was stuck in the lock from the inside. Firefighters were eventually called to force the door open, and found Petr's body seated, leaning against a chair, with a bottle of alcohol on the table in front of him. Petr shot himself on 4 February with his own legally registered firearm — a Glock pistol.

Read also: Prague Castle from the inside: 9 spots within the fortress you shouldn't miss

Source: novinky.cz