Lack of personnel capacity and very difficult working conditions are the biggest problems of the Police Administration, it was announced at the session of the Parliamentary Committee for Security and Defense.
The Minister of Internal Affairs, Danilo Saranović, presented today at the Committee session the Report on the work and situation in administrative areas under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP).
Šaranović said that last year the security situation was stable, due to the implementation of preventive and repressive measures, and that a large number of criminal acts were discovered.
"The state of traffic safety was assessed as unsatisfactory, which indicates the need for additional measures, and it is one of the areas that functioned the worst," Saranović pointed out.
He said that the state of security at the state border was stable, with effective implementation of control and surveillance measures.
As Šaranović said, an increase in criminal offenses by minors was registered last year, which is a challenge in the field of juvenile delinquency.
"364 activities, i.e. 74 percent, were implemented under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Interior, 41 activities were partially implemented, while 91 activities were not implemented," Šaranović added.
He stated that 265 activities, or 69 percent, were implemented under the jurisdiction of the police, partially 25 or seven percent, while 92 activities, or 24 percent, remained unrealized.
Šaranović emphasized that the number of traffic accidents and violations increased last year, which requires additional preventive measures and infrastructure improvement.
He announced that 4.404 traffic accidents were recorded last year, compared to 3.607 in 2022.
"There were 62 fatal traffic accidents, compared to 58 in 2022," Saranović said.
As he said, 78 people died in traffic accidents last year, which is five more than the year before.
"For years, nothing has been done to improve the control mechanisms of the police when it comes to traffic control, and the situation is extremely unsatisfactory," Saranović stressed.
He pointed out that last year there were five cases of murder and aggravated murder, compared to six in 2022.
As he said, there is also a problem in the fight against human trafficking, where out of 65 activities, 36 have been implemented, and 15 partially.
"The areas of prevention and protection of victims of human trafficking are insufficiently addressed, and there are also problems in the management of human resources and assets," added Šaranović.
He pointed out that challenges such as the lack of human resources and the complicated coordination of activities made it difficult to implement international obligations.
"Negotiation chapter 24, which was one of the key ones, is dominantly within the competence of the MUP, what we have implemented is at the level of what has been achieved in the previous ten years," Saranović pointed out.
He also pointed out the problems in the legality of the actions of police officers, where irregularities or illegalities in the actions were found in 67 cases out of 27 conducted controls.
Šaranović pointed out that in the majority of security departments (OB), due to staff deficit, inspectors do not follow one line of work, but work in several areas.
"If we don't get support to solve that problem, we won't have traffic policemen in the majority of OBs in a few months," Saranović said.
He said that no police officer was hired in the previous years, and that at the moment there are more than 300 requests for retirement.
"The situation with Alija Balijagić showed all the consequences of the never-greater personnel deficit found in the Police Directorate," emphasized Saranović.
Committee President Miodrag Laković asked what kind of cooperation there is with city services in the field of traffic safety and whether the Law on Traffic Safety will be able to improve it.
Šaranović replied that, when it comes to the security sector, the focus is always on the fight against organized crime and corruption.
"In one year, more people, especially young people, die in traffic accidents than in dealing with organized criminal groups, which have intensified their activities since 2012, when the war of clans began in Montenegro," said Šaranović.
He emphasized that the big problem is that for years insufficient investment has been made in the capacity of the police when it comes to control and everything that should result in the improvement of traffic safety.
"At one point, our traffic police officers were forced to use private vehicles to control traffic, and I'm glad that we solved that problem," Saranović pointed out.
As he said, in order to improve traffic safety, one must act in several directions, and the first is the traffic infrastructure, so he is pleased that one of the government's priority activities is the construction of a large number of highways and expressways.
Šaranović said that the working group has brought to the end the amendments to the Road Traffic Safety Act, where an important component will be the recognition of the category of young drivers who will have certain types of restrictions in relation to positive European practices.
Speaking about peer violence and juvenile delinquency, Šaranović said that it is not only present in schools and that the way to solve this problem is a multidisciplinary approach, interoperability and joint action of all parts of the system that are important for that area.
Director of the Police Administration, Zoran Brđanin, said that the bottom line is that the police work in difficult conditions.
"In the conditions of limited legal operational independence, in never-worse staffing conditions, we have less than a thousand people in the last three years, no one from the police contributed to this," said Brđanin.
Asked what is being planned when it comes to suppressing juvenile delinquency, the Brđanin said that it is not an issue for him because the Police Directorate does not have the resources to plan and is not responsible for it.
"We can only respond to that with a different setup, the number of people, but that is not the competence of the Police Directorate or the Police Director, we can only make suggestions," Brđanin added.
Acting Assistant Police Director Lazar Šćepanović said that when it comes to peer violence, it does not exist as a separate offense in the Criminal Code.
"The police administration undertakes certain measures and actions when it comes to peer violence and juvenile delinquency," pointed out Šćepanović.
He pointed out that the Police Directorate, as one of the links in the chain of responsibility, does not run away from responsibility, but has undertaken numerous activities and recommendations that will be submitted to the MUP.
"The family is the first, genetic predisposition and early detection of the cause of juvenile delinquency, school, parents, teachers' council, Parents' Council, parents' association, ministries of culture and education, we all have to give an answer", said Šćepanović.
The MP of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) Nikola Janović said that perhaps the Committee should meet every 15 days, so that all current topics could be covered more often.
"Obviously, there are many topics that need to be discussed," added Janović.
He said that everyone should do everything they can when it comes to the conditions for police work.
Janović said that the government was changed almost five years ago and that the excuses for everything that is happening no longer apply.
"Instead of those powerful representations and official trips in the Government, I think that the abuse of official vehicles is also at a historical maximum, let's reduce expenses and help police officers in that sense," said Janović.
He asked whether the MUP has insight and records of who all uses vehicles under rotation.
Šaranović replied that the MUP has around 1.150 vehicles, of which at least half are in non-operational condition.
"And the rest, it's better if we don't have them, than to have them, thanks to the rare exceptions," added Šaranović.
He said that he drives in a vehicle with a market value of EUR 15, in which EUR XNUMX was invested so that it could be driven.
Šaranović said that he proposed that all official vehicles owned by the state be sold because, due to the corruption present in the depth of the system, servicing many times exceeds the payment of operational leasing that would be paid for new vehicles.
Speaking about vehicles under rotation, he said that it is clearly defined which vehicles can go that way and that the police have been conducting action for months in relation to the unauthorized use of signaling.
"Whoever it is, each of those people was sanctioned, because in every segment we want to make a difference compared to the previous period," added Šaranović.
Member of Parliament for the Europe Now Movement Jelena Nedović said that the issue of the lack of police officers in key positions has been going on for the past ten years.
"There was no system and vision to think about not getting into the situation we are in now," said Nedović.
Social Democrat MP Nikola Zirojević said that personnel policy is definitely the biggest problem.
"This is a problem that previous ministers also inherited, and I think that a serious analysis should be carried out on how to solve this problem," said Zirojević.
He stated that in the previous 20 years, the salaries of police officers were unacceptably low.
"For the work they do, the wages are unacceptably low, and I think that every year we all have to insist on increasing salaries in the security sector and the Police Directorate, and you will always have my support for that," Zirojević pointed out.
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