Police officers are not among the dozen or so people who have access to the thermal cameras on Lake Skadar, although they monitor a good part of the border zone with Albania. The recordings from those cameras could only be viewed ten days after they were uploaded.
Those devices are owned by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and they are managed by the National Parks of Montenegro.
JP NPCG and the Ministry claim that they installed the cameras legally and that the Ministry of Internal Affairs also has access to the recordings, but from the department headed by Danilo Šaranović they claim the opposite.
"Officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Police Administration do not have access to the thermal camera installed within the fisheries monitoring center in the Directorate for Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management," said the MUP.
Those who manage the cameras explain that they are installed in order to prevent poaching, however, the interlocutors of "Vijesti" claim that the possibility of misuse is high, especially due to the possibility that someone who knows how far the camera can reach, can precisely tell poachers and smugglers where to pass and don't get caught...
The Agency for the Protection of Personal Data replied to "Vijesta" that in December 2019, the Agency's controllers conducted a surveillance procedure and determined that the cameras were installed for the purpose of monitoring fishing water.
They explained that they were checking this after a citizen's initiative, which was related to establishing the legality of personal data processing through video surveillance in the Plavnica region, which allegedly records the private properties of residents of that region, and confirmed that the videos made by the thermal camera do not can determine the identity of physical persons, rather blurred silhouettes of the human form...
In addition to the contradictions in the institutions' answers to the question of who has access to the recordings, the answers about the date when the decision to install the cameras did not match either.
Responding to the News, JP NPCG announced that at the proposal of the then Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Government adopted Information on the use of thermal cameras in order to prevent illegal fishing in the National Park "Lake Skadar" at its session on July 18, 2019.
That date is also in the answers of the Ministry, but the AZLP points out that during the monitoring, they determined that the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Interior and NP "Skadar Lake" are obliged by the Government's conclusion of July 25, 2019 to establish continuous monitoring of fishing water, with the use of modern technology for heat detection, i.e. "thermal cameras".
MUP watched for 10 days
From JP NPCG, of which he is the head Marinela Đuretić they explained that in 2019, through the MIDAS II project, the relevant ministry provided 25.000 euros for the purchase and installation, and accordingly thermal cameras and other equipment are in their possession.
"For the accommodation of thermal cameras and equipment, the Ministry has chosen a location that covers 70 percent of the territory of the National Park 'Lake Skadar'. Access to the thermal camera is provided within the fisheries monitoring center in the Directorate for Fisheries of the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and JPNPCG as the manager of the National Park 'Lake Skadar'", said JP NPCG.
Joković's department claims that the MUP was obliged by the Government's conclusion from July 2019 to continuously monitor those cameras.
"At that time, the government tasked the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the National Park 'Skadar Lake' to continuously use the thermal camera for the purpose of suppressing illegal fishing activities on Lake Skadar," said the MPRR.
"According to the conclusion of the Government of Montenegro, access to the thermal camera is provided to the monitoring center of the Skadar Lake National Park, the monitoring center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Fisheries Inspectors," claimed Joković's department.
The answers of the Ministry of Interior show the opposite - that neither their officers nor the officers of the Police Administration have access to the thermal camera installed within the fisheries monitoring center in the Directorate for Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management.
They also explained that the officers of the Border Police Sector, i.e. the Regional Center of the Border Police "Center" - Service for Operational Duty, according to the conclusion of the joint meeting of the representatives of this Regional Center and the then management of JP NPCG, which was held on January 13, 2023, " and on which occasion the mutual willingness to improve mutual cooperation was expressed, they sent a letter to the JP NP of Montenegro, that through a link, the monitoring center of the mentioned company would transfer the situation image from the surveillance cameras, which are used for monitoring at the locations: Plavnica, Vranjina, Virpazar, Pančevo oko, Boljesestre, etc., all for the purpose of detecting illegal crossings of the state border".
"At the end of March 2023, in the Operational Duty Service of the RCGP 'Center', access to the status images from the above-mentioned surveillance cameras was enabled, only operationally, without the possibility of searching, extracting recordings, copying, sharing or otherwise providing data from the said cameras for official needs, due to the fact that the software and complete IT equipment were located in the monitoring center, i.e. under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management", the MUP explained.
Answering the questions of "Vijesti", they said that only officers of the Police Administration, who have the obligation to keep secret information, had "access for only 10 days in real time".
"Unauthorized persons did not have access to that data. The recordings were not downloaded, but viewed in real time, which means that no person could gain unauthorized access to the data".
They said that since taking over the responsibility of securing the state border, there is a need for better quality surveillance of the border on Lake Skadar.
"To this end, the Border Police Department launched a series of projects to improve the personnel and material and technical capacities of the organizational unit that performs border control on this extremely sensitive part of the border. In this sense, only this year, a renowned company provided the development of a study for mapping the needs for the establishment of efficient electronic surveillance on Lake Skadar, the implementation of which in the coming period will be realized according to defined priorities from the funds of the European Union with the mediation of the IOM office in Podgorica. . In this way, a much better coverage of the electronic monitoring of the state border at Lake Skadar will be ensured, and the possibility for a better reaction of the border police in detected cases", said the department headed by Danilo Šaranović.
Residents are not filmed
The Agency for the Protection of Personal Data replied to the "News" that during the monitoring process, among other things, they determined that, with the aim of suppressing illegal fishing in the NP "Skadarsko jezero", by the Government's Conclusion of July 25, 2019, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Razoj, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and NP "Skadar Lake" are obliged to establish continuous monitoring of fishing water, with the use of modern technology for heat detection, i.e. "thermal cameras".
They also state that during the inspection they noted that the fishing water is monitored using a thermal camera that performs 24-hour readings of body heat on the territory of that National Park in real time, that the identity of physical persons cannot be determined from the videos made by the thermal camera, because shows "spilled" silhouettes of the human form, but also that there is no video surveillance of the private properties of the residents of that region.
"Because it reads objects in an unrecognizable way in a three-dimensional form of gray-black color, which does not endanger the right to personal privacy".
AZLP explains that the thermal camera is a network positioning system with thermal "applied for temporary border defense, maritime defense, port surveillance, airport perimeter security, etc. An alarm system helps you to immediately detect unexpected events and protect you from property loss”.
They also explain that on May 31, 2021, JP NPCG addressed them with a request in which they asked, among other things, "whether there are obstacles to the installation of a thermal imaging camera in terms of the Personal Data Protection Act" and that they explained to them that the installation of a thermal imaging camera is not contrary to the provisions of the Personal Data Protection Act.
The situation on the field is better than before
The Ministry of Agriculture justified the installation of thermal cameras by saying that the illegal and unreported fishing that Montenegro is facing causes a series of negative economic, social, ecological and legal consequences.
"This activity is often connected with other criminal activities and threatens the safety of people and food. Precisely for these reasons, in 2019, the Ministry initiated the procedure of acquiring a thermal camera in order to decisively oppose all forms of illegal fishing on Lake Skadar. In 2019, after the Government of Montenegro adopted information on the use of a thermal camera in order to prevent illegal fishing in the Skadar Lake National Park, it was installed," Joković's department said.
They also state that the installation of a thermal imaging camera has greatly helped in the fight against illegal fishing activities in the area and that the current situation on Lake Skadar in terms of illegal fishing is significantly better.
The MPRR reiterated that, according to the Government's conclusion, access to the thermal camera is available to the monitoring center of the National Park "Skadar Lake", the monitoring center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Fisheries Inspectors.
They also claim that in accordance with the Law on Civil Servants and State Employees, civil servants are obliged to ensure the protection and storage of secret data.
"Also, the civil servant is obliged to keep secret data even after the termination of the employment relationship in the state body, in accordance with the Law regulating the confidentiality of data. It is important to point out that this issue is additionally covered by the Code of Ethics for Civil Servants and State Employees, and that when performing duties in a state body, an official may not disclose official information obtained while performing such duties without authorization. Based on the above, it is clear that unauthorized handling of information entails the responsibility of the civil servant", they said.
They also state that the operator of the data collection within that Ministry is the Fisheries Directorate.
The devices help significantly in the fight against poaching
JP NPCG claims that the technical characteristics of the cameras enable the identification of vessels on the lake, which, they say, is extremely important in order to prevent poaching:
"And the official results also speak of the good effects on the field. All the necessary documentation was provided by the Ministry of Agriculture, which owns the camera," they said.
Answering the "News" who all has access to the camera and data, they said that officials in those institutions and operators employed in the Control and Monitoring Service of the National Parks of Montenegro have it:
"In which, according to the Rulebook on the organization and systematization of workplaces, seven people are employed - six operators and one associate for video surveillance and installations".
They did not answer who, personally, are those employees who have insight into the material and camera positions, but they claim that they are obliged to use the data and information obtained during the performance of work tasks exclusively for the prosecution of perpetrators of illegal acts in the area of national parks, and in accordance with the positive legal regulations governing this area, as well as general acts of the Public Enterprise.
"In the event that an employee of the Control and Monitoring Service shares data with unauthorized persons, the immediate manager, upon learning of these circumstances, initiates the procedure for determining the violation of work obligations, and submits the related documentation to the competent state authorities for further action," they said. they.
This is how they answered the question about whether, in the case of sharing data with unauthorized persons, criminal charges can be filed against them for abuse of official position and disclosure of secret information, such as the movement of police units, smugglers, poachers...
JPNPCG explained that the manager of the collection is the director of the company:
"Given that the Government of Montenegro appointed a new manager of the company in September, the process of taking over the mentioned collection is underway... In accordance with the current Rulebook on the organization and systematization of JPNPCG workplaces, the Control and Monitoring Service is managed by the head of the service. The systematization envisages the post of assistant director for control and monitoring, to whom the head of the aforementioned service is responsible, while the assistant answers to the director of the Public Enterprise".
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