The Internal Control Department of the Police Directorate and the Ethics Board will determine whether there are elements to initiate appropriate proceedings due to improper or unauthorized behavior of two police officers from Podgorica and Nikšić, during a verbal incident that occurred on Thursday, April 10 of this year, on the Grahovo road.
In its response to "Vijesti", the Police Directorate states that due to the verbal conflict between two police officers, official notes were made, as well as those of the acting superiors, which will be submitted to the Ethics Committee and the Department for Internal Control of Police Work during the internal control.
The police claim that on Thursday, during the actions of police officers from the Regional Security Center "West", who were also assisted by police officers from the Regional Security Center "Center", "a verbal misunderstanding occurred between two police officers."
"This is in relation to the specific procedures for securing the route and carrying out police actions, in relation to holding a public gathering. A verbal misunderstanding occurred at a location outside police premises and outside the Nikšić Security Department, during the implementation of tasks for which these two police officers were responsible," the UP's response reads.
"Vijesti" has learned from several unofficial sources from the Nikšić police that the verbal conflict and attempted physical confrontation took place in Grahovo, where UP officers were providing assistance to the escort accompanying a protected person - the President of the Parliament. Andrije Mandić, who was at the party's final convention that night, later reported in front of the Nikšić police building, where indecent scenes and inappropriate behavior by a group of Intervention Platoon officers, who were sent from Podgorica to help their colleagues in Nikšić, were allegedly seen.
Allegedly, the Intervention Platoon from Podgorica was also securing the route at Grahovo that night, where they first, for an unexplained reason, tried to stop the escort, which was being followed by their colleagues from Nikšić, but they did not stop. After that, the platoon from Podgorica, upon the return of their colleagues from Nikšić, who had escorted Mandić's entourage to Herceg Novi, allegedly tried to stop them on the main road, but they again did not stop, but continued towards the city under rotation.
Several interlocutors of "Vijesti" claim that after that, police officers from Podgorica started chasing their colleagues from Nikšić in an official vehicle, and then blocked their path, after which a verbal conflict and almost a physical confrontation occurred.
Sources claim that a police officer from the Podgorica Police Department was particularly aggressive. Marko Stojanovic who allegedly tried to hit his colleague from Nikšić after a verbal conflict on the route Radovan Lalić.
The verbal conflict then continued in front of the Nikšić Military Hospital building, and, as several interlocutors claim, inappropriate scenes were also seen in the mayor's office.
The Police Directorate, however, in its response to "Vijesti" states that there was no further incident in the Nikšić Police Station building, but that the Chief of RCB "Zapad", when he received information that a verbal conflict had occurred, called police officers to the Nikšić Security Department to determine whether there had been a violation of the Code of Ethics.
"On which occasion, as some media outlets reported, there was no incident of any kind, and after giving an oral statement, they were returned to their regular work assignments in their regional centers," the police response states.
What exactly happened that night in Grahovo, and then in front of and inside the Nikšić police building, and whether all steps were followed in accordance with the service's rules, will be known once the internal controls are completed.
Were there any drunk people?
That day, the Police Directorate conducted a security assessment and sent officers from Podgorica to Nikšić to assist colleagues in securing several final party conventions ahead of the local elections in that city.
The Police Directorate did not respond to "Vijesti's" question about whether the officers from Podgorica might have been drunk that evening, as their colleagues from Nikšić claim, nor whether they might have been breathalyzed that night after the incident.
"Vijesti" has learned that after the conflict in Grahovo, even uglier scenes were seen in front of the Nikšić Military Police building, where a police officer from Podgorica allegedly ran into his colleagues from Nikšić, after which, with the disapproval of his colleagues from the platoon, he went to talk to the chief. Darko Radusinović.
Allegedly, according to this source from the Nikšić Police Department, they were interviewed in the office that night by Chief Radusinović, the commander of the police station. Goran Djurdjevac, head of the Nikšić criminal police Dragoljub Peković and an officer from the Police Headquarters Dragiša Mugoša with associates, who were also in Nikšić that day.
Several interlocutors from the Nikšić Central Bank stated that the officer from Podgorica behaved inappropriately in the office during the conversation with the superiors.
During the internal control, it will be particularly interesting to check whether the superiors made an oversight by not immediately removing the police officers from duty after learning about the conflict between officers from two cities on the main road, but instead letting them return to Podgorica in the official van after the incident.
It is unclear whether there was a lack of notification and information in the chain of command, but also the information when the acting director of the UP Lazar Scepanovic, who requested an internal investigation, the minister Danilo Šaranović, but also the leaders in Podgorica were informed about the incident in Nikšić.
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