On 3 April 2024, a ceremony was held at the Police Academy in Tacen to honour brave, devoted and selfless members of the police force and the public who have saved numerous lives. As many as 97 brave and kind-hearted individuals received police medals for their acts of bravery and selflessness. 89 medals for selflessness and eight medals for bravery were awarded.

The medals were presented to the recipients at today's ceremony by Director General of the Police Senad Jušić and Minister of the Interior Boštjan Poklukar.
Senad Jušić: "First aid skills have once again proven a fundamental part of both police work and everyday life."

In his address, the Director General of the Police said: “First aid skills have once again proven a fundamental part of both police work and everyday life. I will continue to promote first aid knowledge through regular police training. I am immensely pleased that so many lives have been saved thanks to the skills of our officers and members of the public. They all had this valuable knowledge and put it to practice to help others."

Jušić also stressed the importance of effective and coordinated action: from the dispatcher who gives instructions over the phone, to the person who listens and passes them on to the officer who then takes decisive action to save a human life. All individual links in that chain are vital for a successful outcome. And above all, it takes courage to act."

Minister Boštjan Poklukar: "When saving someone else’s life, you often put your own at risk"

Interior Minister Boštjan Poklukar said that helping and serving people is at the very core of police work. "Helping another is something inherently human. But when saving someone else’s life, you are often exposed to dangers and risks you are completely unaware of at the time."

79 police officers, one auxiliary police officer and 17 members of the public took decisive action and saved lives in 48 stressful incidents

Sometimes all you need in life is just a little bit of luck that prevents a worst case scenario. For example, what is a chance of a police patrol driving past at night just as a building catches fire? Yet that is exactly what happened. Stories like that are many and some of them touched the hearts of people throughout Slovenia. They range from rescuing lost migrants from the forest, taking part in fire response, helping in floods, preventing a robbery, to saving a child from suffocation or drowning, intervening in cases of domestic violence, providing first aid for cardiac arrest, assisting victims of road accidents, and preventing suicides. But sometimes, despite our best efforts, rescue attempts are not successful. Unfortunately, this occurred in four cases where people’s lives could not be saved even with prompt and adequate assistance.

The police force is justly proud of today's medal recipients and recognises their selflessness, bravery and contribution in keeping our country and its citizens safe. Their actions show that we can do the right thing and carry out selfless acts to help another person in need. It is very encouraging to see such selflessness and bravery in today's highly individual society; we must strive to preserve and reinforce these values. Together, we are stronger.