New Law 'Politicises' Serbian Police, Union Says

A police union says Serbia's new Law on Police, adopted on January 26, gives too much discretionary powers to the Interior Minister - and leaves the police subject to excessive political influence.

Momcilo Vidojevic, president of the Independent Police Union of Serbia, told BIRN that the police director will lose his or her independence because the new law allows the Interior Minister to dismiss him or her without clear criteria.

"The police director can now be sacked on the Minister's proposal for not accomplishing set goals. However, there are no criteria to determine them or not, as there are no set goals," Vidojevic said.

According to the recently adopted law, the police department is to be run by the police director who is appointed by the government for five years on the proposal of the Interior Minister - and can be removed by the minister.

The union also criticized the announced rationalization of the police department, which it says will cost 1,050 police officers their jobs, claiming that politics will determine who is deemed surplus or not.

"We need clear criteria for this rationalization. At the end of the process, the politically unsuitable ones will be fired," Vidojevic predicted, adding that number of police officers in Serbia is already under the European average.

The Belgrade Centre for Security Policy, a think tank, has also criticised the new law, warning of the politicisation of the police service.

It cited the "excessive discretionary powers of the Interior Minister" as key obstacles to ensuring the police service is politically neutral in its report, entitled Assessment of Police Integrity in Serbia, issued on November 26.

Public confidence in the independence of the police as a public service...