Members of the LGBT community have a high degree of trust in police officers, said the head of the Criminal Police Station for the Suppression of Blood Offenses, Srđan Korać, stating that there is a tendency towards a decrease in the number of reports submitted in which LGBT persons appear as victims.
Since the beginning of this year, as he stated, there have been 69 reports where LGBT persons are reported as victims, while 82 reports were submitted in the same period last year.
Korać, who is the first contact person for work with the LGBT community, said that LGBT people are completely satisfied with the behavior of police officers.
"A great degree of trust has been created in police officers, which will also be our mission in the future, to continue to act professionally, humanely and morally, urgently and with additional sensitivity when it comes to the LGBT community", said Korać in an interview with the MINA agency.
He said that sexual orientation and gender identity are an integral part of every person's personality and therefore must not be the basis for any form of discrimination or abuse.
"Discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity is any exclusion, inequality, restriction or preference in relation to sexual orientation or gender identity, with the aim of nullifying equality before the law," he said.
Korać added that the Government recognized this problem and in 2013 adopted the Strategy for Improving the Quality of Life of the LGBT Community in Montenegro.
As he stated, goals and tasks were defined through that Strategy, and one of them was the creation of a Trust Team consisting of members of the Police Administration and the LGBT community.
"The police administration, through the implementation of its obligations, has defined goals and tasks, which are reflected in the constant establishment and implementation of quality, timely and constructive communication between the LGBT community and the police administration, constant monitoring of the safety of LGBT persons and finding the best models for solving their problems", he explained. is Korac.
He said that the task of the Trust Team is to monitor the development of the contact network of police officers for work with the LGBT community, support all activities related to strengthening the police's capacity, and cooperation with international partners who monitor the process of LGBT inclusion.
"The goals and tasks of the Trust Team are cooperation with state bodies, making proposals, implementing certain measures in order to achieve better results related to the complete acceptance of LGBT people in the social community and contributing to the strengthening of the criminal-legal protection of LGBT people," said Korać.
When asked if it happened that LGBT people reported that they suffered violence from their family members, Korać replied that they had no such reports.
"However, information from the field says otherwise. We are trying to find the best model to help LGBT people who have suffered violence from their loved ones, from their family," he said.
Korać added that the non-governmental sector also invests a lot of effort in finding the best solutions.
"Unfortunately, they are not yet ready to cooperate with the police, we have a legal and legal barrier to put such cases into operation and resolution," he said.
Korać said that the other reports mostly related to making negative comments about the LGBT community.
As he stated, the non-governmental sector submitted 66 reports in March and April of this year, and they related to negative comments on Facebook.
"They turned to the Police Directorate and we urgently acted on all their reports. A large number of reports were forwarded to other security centers due to local jurisdiction, a number of reports ended with a warning, while others were taken into action," said Korać.
According to him, three reports were submitted where LGBT persons were injured, who were directly attacked by unknown persons.
"With the quick intervention of the police, we managed to identify that person, carry out a criminal investigation and inform the competent Prosecutor's Office", said Korać.
He added that in one case, the Prosecution declared itself incompetent, that is, in abbreviated proceedings, the person was taken to the regional authority for misdemeanors in Podgorica, and in the other case, the person was criminally processed and submitted to the prosecutor for evaluation and further decision-making.
When asked if he thinks that the police team for contact and cooperation with LGBT persons has fulfilled its mission, Korać replied that he is sure that in their work so far they have fully justified the goal of its establishment and existence.
"For several years now, the officers of the Podgorica, and I'm sure, other security centers have been giving their utmost in their work on the issue of the LGBT community and additional sensibility in their actions," Korać said.
This, he added, is also reflected in a large number of praises from the victims, the non-governmental sector and international partners who monitor the work of the Montenegrin police and the development of the LGBT community.
Korać emphasized that the trust's team, which consists of experts with very rich life and professional experience, did a great job. They conducted a large number of trainings for police officers in various police structures, that is, units.
According to him, the very arrival in Montenegro, the first contact with the police officers at the border crossings instills additional confidence.
"What is very interesting from practice and commendable is that previously all reports concerning the LGBT community came to me first, I am the first contact person, then I filtered them on to the police officers for action", he stated.
In the last few years, as he said, this is no longer the case, LGBT people come to security centers and submit reports themselves.
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