The officers of the Special Police Department (SPO) are the only ones in the Police Administration system who did not receive a 10 percent supplement to their basic salary, even though they are engaged in the most sensitive and demanding jobs in the fight against organized crime, corruption, money laundering, preventing terrorism, and investigating war crimes.
In contrast to them, by the decision of the Government, that supplement, up to a maximum of 30 percent, is provided for the chief inspector and inspector of the first class in the Directorate for Security and Supervisory Affairs of the Ministry of the Interior, who were given police powers and titles in August of this year by the Rulebook on Internal Organization and Systematization of Workplaces in addition to the Law on Internal Affairs.
On June 23 of this year, the Government passed a Decision on amending the decision on the supplement to the basic salary for the performance of work in certain workplaces, by which the organizational unit that performs police work - UP, provided for a supplement of up to 10 percent of the basic salary.
As a result of which there was a situation where the SPO officers, who work on the most complex jobs in the system of the Police Administration, did not receive a supplement of up to 10 percent on the basic salary, the MUP did not send answers to "Vijesta" or explain how and why this happened.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs did not answer whether it might be a mistake in the calculation of salaries, nor whether money will be retroactively paid to the SPO officers, who in the past two months were deprived of a supplement to their basic salary, which was received by other colleagues who have police titles and powers in the UP.
According to unofficial data from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Personnel Department of the Ministry requested an opinion from the Ministry of Finance to clarify whether the supplement to the basic salary should also be paid to SPO officers because the Decision adopted on the basis of Article 17, Paragraph 2 of the Law on Salaries of Public Sector Employees has been amended.
Allegedly, the problem of whether a supplement to the basic salary should also be given to SPO officers arose due to the interpretation of who elected, appointed and appointed them to those positions - MUP/UP or the chief special prosecutor of the Special State Prosecutor's Office, on whose orders they act in cases.
Because of this, they have been approved for a special allowance, which until April of this year was up to 45 percent of the basic salary, but when the new calculation came into force - the clause that past work and benefited seniority cannot be counted, but only effective, was abolished, and the situation was that their cumulative salary was reduced by 10 to 15 percent.
This summer, during the new reckoning, as unofficially explained to "Vijesta", the Ministry of Internal Affairs could not give SPO officers two allowances because they already have a special one, which is why they asked for the opinion of the Ministry of Finance.
Due to the new calculation, inspectors in SPO now have the same salary as MUP officers, who have an additional...
Rare jelly in SPO
About 20 officers are currently engaged in the special organizational unit of the UP - Special Police Department, who are in charge of working with the Special State Prosecutor's Office in cases of fighting against organized crime and corruption, preventing money laundering and terrorism, but also investigating war crimes...
The manager and the police officer in the SPO act on the orders of the chief special prosecutor, that is, special prosecutors, and they cannot be assigned to another job or other jobs in the Police Directorate without the consent of the GST.
The new Rulebook on the internal systematization and organization of MUP/UP jobs stipulates that 50 officers will be employed in the SPO, but a problem arose when filling the positions because many experienced police officers and experts from specialized fields, with the titles needed to work in that department, do not want to transfer to the SPO due to the volume of work and demanding police tasks, but also because of salaries that do not deviate from other departments and organizational units with incomparably easier work.
In addition, the reason why they don't want to work in SPO is that there is no 10 percent salary bonus for them, and only 32 overtime hours are paid per month, even though working in that department often requires much longer work engagement.
The biggest supplement for MUP
The decision on the amendment of the Decision on the supplement to the basic salary for the performance of work in certain workplaces, adopted by the Government at the request of the Ministry of Interior, provides for the first time a supplement of a maximum of 30 percent to the basic salary of officers in the Directorate for Security and Surveillance Affairs in the Directorate for Supervision in the Field of Prevention of Money Laundering, Terrorism and International Restrictive Measures.
An allowance of up to 30 percent was given for performing the duties of the chief inspector and inspector of the first class in that Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
With this change, the MUP was preparing for what followed at the beginning of August, when the Government adopted the Rulebook on the Internal Organization and Systematization of Workplaces, which provided for the employment of at least 40 police officers in the new Directorate for Security and Surveillance Affairs, which directly contradicts the Law on Internal Affairs, which stipulates that "police powers are exercised by police officers exclusively in the Police Directorate as an operationally independent body."
The Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Government thereby gave police powers and titles to the administrative officers of the ministry, and this Decision provides for a 30 percent supplement for them, which means that their total earnings will be much higher than the majority of UP officers who work in the most demanding jobs of the fight against organized crime and corruption.
The goal - to reward the chosen ones
When the MUP's intention to hire more than 40 officers with police titles and powers was announced this summer, the question was raised as to who is doing it and whether the document was written for selected staff, who will not have wider powers during the performance of administrative supervision than was the case until now.
Citizen activist and member of the Working Group that worked on drafting the Law on Internal Affairs, Dina Bajramspahić, explained to "Vijesti" at the time that this idea has absolutely no other purpose or goal other than increasing the wages of selected officials in the MUP.
"This illegal practice already exists in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, there are, among others, former officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs who were pushed aside due to the changes. Giving police powers to 22 officers in the de facto classic administrative supervision of the Ministry of Interior is discriminatory towards officers of other ministries who perform identical work for less money."
Special allowance of up to 60 percent for special prosecutors
During August, the government adopted two amendments that provide for a 33 percent increase in the special allowance for judges, prosecutors and employees of the judicial authorities and the state prosecutor's office, who deal with cases of the fight against corruption, organized crime, war crimes and terrorism.
According to the previous decision, the special allowance amounted to a maximum of 45 percent of their basic salary, and based on this amendment, that upper limit was raised to 60 percent of their basic salary.
In this way, the material and financial position of employees in the judiciary and prosecutor's office who deal with cases from the fight against organized crime, corruption, terrorism and war crimes is improved.
The second amendment stipulates that the conditions and method of obtaining the variable part of the salary for employees of the State Prosecutor's Office will be determined by the Prosecutorial Council in the future, and not by the Minister of Finance, as was the case until now.
Bonus video:
