Minister of Interior Danilo Šaranović has suspended four more police officers, and the department he heads announced that he did so following a proposal from his immediate superiors, with the opinion of the Director of the Police Administration, Lazar Šćepanović.
It was clarified that officers of the Regional Security Center "North" were suspended.
"They were suspended on various grounds, such as the criminal offenses of creating a criminal organization, abuse of official position, accepting bribes, as well as due to disciplinary proceedings initiated for serious breach of official duty under Article 173, paragraph 1, item 28 of the Law on Internal Affairs - the existence of security obstacles to further work," Šaranović announced.
The statement added that the Ministry of Interior and the Police Directorate can achieve the set priorities if this is preceded by the achievement of the key priority, to become an institution with the greatest public trust.
"This can only be achieved through the establishment and assurance of full integrity of the police service. Decades of criminal infiltration into the police ranks, as the most serious legacy from the past, have opened up space for the growth of all forms of crime, especially the carefree activities of organized crime groups. Instead of the black columns in the media being full of the police's determined fight against crime, the media columns were, with full justification, dominated by texts testifying to the connection of a number of police officers with organized crime. The extent of the police's criminalization is best demonstrated by the fact that it was not police officers with lower police powers who were at the forefront of criminal activities, but former police directors, former assistant directors and dozens of senior police officers," said Šaranović.
He pointed out that with the strict commitment of this management, the Ministry of the Interior and the Police Directorate are decisively putting an end to the infiltration of crime into police structures.
"It is further binding that this has been recognized, supported and praised by the highest addresses in the international community, from which today come assessments that the Ministry of Interior is a leader in establishing the full rule of law in Montenegro. Although the public has had the opportunity to read a number of commissioned texts signed by organized crime in recent weeks, of which those that, with a touch of primitive misogyny, were aimed at blatantly exerting pressure on our colleagues, the President of the Disciplinary Commission and the Disciplinary Prosecutor, are particularly indicative, we announce in advance that their purpose will not be fulfilled. On the contrary, regardless of the pressures and attempts to stop the operation of control mechanisms in the Ministry of Interior, which are reflected in commissioned texts, and attempts to pressure professionals in our service, the establishment of full integrity of the service will be implemented even more decisively. In contrast to the not-so-distant past, our task is to establish a system in which every police officer must be loyal only to the police badge, the Constitution and the law. "This is an obligation towards the state, citizens, the Constitution, but above all towards those who are the overwhelming majority in the Police Directorate, which are honorable and professional police officers," the statement reads.
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