Implementation of the Duties and Powers of the National Preventive Mechanism in 2012 • When inspecting the detention of a person under Article 24 of the Act on Rules in Road Transport, it was clear from the documentation, that the person had refused to take an alcohol content test by the alcohol content indicator device, and had also refused to sign the minutes on the test of the alcohol content while not being ordered to undergo an expert examination or a test by means of a breathalyzer (ethyl meter), as stipulated by the Act on Rules in Road Transport in Article 107, Paragraph 2; instead a detention was ordered for the said person (in PS Šentjur pri Celju). The Ministry of the Interior agrees with the position by the NPM that, in accordance with a regulatory provision, a breathalyzer test with an ethyl meter or an expert examination should be ordered also in cases when a participant in road transport refuses to take the alcohol content test and does not sign the relevant minutes. At the same time the Ministry of the Interior communicated that the expert service of the General Police Directorate had informed the police station about the abovementioned opinion on 16 April 2012. Before that, police stations had been wrongly directed, specifically, that an expert examination did not need to be ordered by police in such cases. • A decision on detention was served too late for two minutes (PS Rogaška Slatina) It was proposed by the NPM to point out to police officers about the consistency in respecting time periods for serving decisions on detention. An inspection of the documentation showed several more irregularities in regard to medical assistance. In the official note it was stated that a person was complaining about a pain in his back and neck and had some scratches and requested a doctor (it was not mentioned which doctor) but the request was not granted (in PS Podlehnik). The detained person’s father then took charge of him. The Ministry of the Interior notified the NPM that medical assistance was not provided since the detained person’s father took charge of him saying that he would take that person to the doctor by himself if that was necessary. In addition, it was not registered whether a person registered with injuries was adequately treated by a doctor (in PS Ljutomer). In regard to this case, the Ministry of the Interior agreed with the NPM’s opinion that a detained person must be provided with emergency medical treatment whenever it is obvious that it is needed. It was not possible to see from the documentation available whether a person was injured before the police procedure or during it, and who treated the injury of the said person’s nose with a sticking plaster, there was no reason as to why the said person whose nose was injured upon the ordering of the detention was not taken for a medical examination (in PS Gorišnica). In its response report, the Ministry of the Interior communicated their finding that the said person had been injured before the police procedure, and their agreement with the fact that a police officer could have written down this condition into the register of detained persons and inquired with the said person whether medical assistance was necessary. During the visit to PS Krško, the NPM made a warning that due to the requirement for the protection of personal data and protection of privacy it is required that the documentation relating to detention should be properly kept and not left without any supervision on a desk in a room where procedures involving detained persons are regularly conducted by police officers. In this regard, the Ministry of the Interior reported that the management of PS Krško had immediately removed the file with old forms where the data of detained persons was visible. All police officers were reminded by the management of the proper keeping of forms at a working meeting. During visits to some police stations attention was drawn to the need to appropriately mark the confiscated items or rooms dedicated for temporary storage of confiscated items of detained persons. The Ministry of the Interior thus reported that the officers in the police station adequately marked a metal locker used by police officers for this purpose. National Preventive Mechanism in the Republic of Slovenia under the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment 49