Proceedings following a report for mistreatment of minors: Serious failure of the policemen, they will be prosecuted

The Department for Internal Control of the Police found that two officers from Bijelo Polje committed a serious violation of official duty when acting on a citizen's report that his minor child was being mistreated by two men, one of whom has since been admitted to the Police Academy.

In the decision of the Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which "Vijesti" had access to, it is written that the Police Directorate was proposed to initiate the procedure to determine the disciplinary responsibility of officers Dževad Imamović and Ivan Baltić. The report of the Department for Case Files was also submitted to the Basic State Prosecutor's Office (ODT) in Bijelo Polje, which should evaluate and determine whether the two police officers committed a criminal offense for which they are being prosecuted ex officio.

The Police Administration replied to "Vijesta" that the Department's report was submitted to them for further processing.

"... In order to initiate disciplinary proceedings against police officers for a serious breach of official duty. Accordingly, the head of the Security Department in Bijelo Polje, where the aforementioned officers are employed, will initiate disciplinary proceedings against them within the legal term", the response of the Police Administration states.

The parent of the boy EH, who claims that his child was mistreated by two men MM and BM, previously complained to the Department for Internal Control of the Police against the police officers of the Bijelo Polje Security Department.

In an address to "Vijesti", the Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms and Institutions, the parent EH stated that the police acted untimely in order to enable one of the applicants to be employed in the police because in the meantime he was accepted to the Police Academy competition.

He substantiated his claims with the fact that the police filed a misdemeanor report against him four months later, instead of within the legal deadline of 60 days, which is why the court rejected the request.

The reported MM was admitted to the Police Academy competition on December 28 last year, and a day later, with a delay of almost five months, the police filed a misdemeanor report against him.

Acting on the complaint, the Department for Internal Control of the Police established during the procedure that the measures and actions related to the event (a parent's report of mistreatment of his child) were undertaken by officers Dževad Imamović and Ivan Baltić.

"In the conducted internal control procedure, on the basis of the factual situation determined by the inspection of the official police documentation made on the occasion of the event in question, as well as on the basis of the content of the statements taken in the internal control procedure, it was established that the police officers committed a serious violation of their official duties from Article 95 paragraph 1 of the Law on Civil Servants and State Employees... The report that was made in the internal control procedure was submitted to the Police Directorate with a proposal to take legal measures with the aim of initiating the disciplinary responsibility procedure for the conduct in the case in question," states the letter from the EH Department

According to Article 95 of the Law on Civil Servants and State Employees, it is a serious breach of duty that refers to "non-execution or unconscionable or untimely or negligent performance of official duties".

The boy's parent previously stated in a complaint to the Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms that two adult men abused his child several times and that he reported everything to the Bijelo Polje Security Department, but that the police did not react to the first report, while they took measures on the second only after four month.

He also claimed that the police informed him that they issued a warning to those persons and acted contrary to the regulations, primarily the Internal Affairs Act, as well as that the police were motivated not to prosecute the attackers of his child at the time of the competition for police officers, which is the result was the employment of one of them and the rejection of the request to initiate misdemeanor proceedings before the Misdemeanor Court in that municipality.

In this case, the protector established that the police in Bijelo Polje acted untimely in the case of a thirteen-year-old boy. Due to the untimely actions of the police officers, the complainant was prevented from making a decision on the merits of the police officer's liability in relation to his minor child in the procedure provided for by law.