Bulgaria's Interior Ministry bestowed for the 18th consecutive time the annual "Police Officer of the Year" awards.

Plamen Petrov from the Narcotics Department of the Main Directorate for Combatting Organized Crime, GDBOP, was named policeman of 2011. In addition, all collective awards went to GDBOP as well.

Bulgaria's Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, bestowed a special civic trust award to four police officers from the Second Police Precinct in Sofia. The idea was born earlier this month when a thank you letter arrived at the Interior Ministry. It told Tanya Ivanova's story, who had become a robbery victim at the beginning of December:

"An individual came to me at the tram station and said: "Give me the money." I told him I had no money. The he bended by the fence and grabbed a large piece of broken asphalt and repeated: "I am counting to five, give me the money. There were 15 people at the stop, and no one reacted," Ivanova says.

She gave the perp her gold wedding ring and he disappeared. She then went to the Second Police Pricinct to report the crime. The police officers called he the very next day to come and identify the the robber; they even came to her house to pick her up in a police car, prompting the thank you letter and the award for police officers Ivan Assenov, Grigor Ganchev, and inspectors, Stephen Dimitrov and Parvoleta Nikolova.

Tsvetanov further praised the work of Security and Traffic Police – the latter for the sharp decrease of traffic accidents' fatalities on the country's roads in the last two years.

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