The Acting Director of the Police Directorate, Aleksandar Radović, will apply for the position for the full term, when it is announced, because, as he says, he has the knowledge, experience and will to fight corruption and all forms of crime.
In an interview with Vijesti Television, Radović announced that he, four assistants, and 39 senior officers in the Police Directorate are in acting status or temporarily assigned, which, in his opinion, affects the quality of achieving strategic goals.
He points out the lack of staff as the number one problem in the service, and reveals what the possibilities are for solving it.
He also says that the cooperation with the Minister of Internal Affairs, Danilo Šaranović, is continuous and professional.
"A public competition was announced for the selection of three assistant directors of the Police Administration, for the head of the general jurisdiction police sector, the border police sector and the special purpose police sector. Those competitions are pending before another body. At the same time, 39 internal advertisements were announced for the appointment of managers within of the police for the selection of heads of organizational units. The previous director made a decision to announce internal advertisements in the beginning of 2023. So we have four assistant directors of the Police Administration, 39 elders in the organization and the director himself who is in the acting status duties, or to the status of a temporary assignment. A temporary assignment, as the name suggests, is an exception that, unfortunately, has turned into a rule. A manager who is temporarily assigned cannot plan well service, the quality of achieving strategic goals, especially mid-term and long-term goals, is questionable, and solving problems that require a longer period of time is also questionable. That is why I am advocating and will advocate that the internal advertisements that have been started be completed as soon as possible or that we withdraw them and announce new ones, if the legal conditions for this are created, and I hope that this will also happen with public tenders. "Only an elder in full term can make a full contribution in the fight against crime and in the intention of making this place safer," said Radović.
You have been in charge of the police for a month and a half, as an acting officer. A competition for that position is expected in the full term - will you apply?
"I fulfill all the conditions prescribed by law for the position of director of the Police Administration. I have the necessary knowledge, accumulated experience and professional references to perform this function. If I am elected, I will try to improve the service and the status of the officers themselves through my efforts and professional and wise leadership. Objective and systematic approach, I will fight against all forms of crime, especially organized crime and corruption. Support for the prosecution will be continuous. So - yes, I will apply for the position of director of the Police Administration," said Radović.
How many officers are currently unassigned in the Police Directorate?
"The category of unassigned employees is perceived by the public in two ways. One way refers to employees who are unassigned due to the fact that they do not have a scheduling solution according to the current rulebook on the systematization of workplaces. These people work, contribute, receive income, and derive their rights and obligations from the previous rulebook. The category of non-assigned officers who do not come to work, but you yourself have witnessed that in the previous period, was a significant burden on the police administration. This is also an inherited problem that for a long time we couldn't find out how many such people there are, and then when we found out it was measured in hundreds. We solve this problem every day, but it has to be solved case by case. Each person is special, isn't it it is easy to assign officials who, as a rule, have the highest title within the framework of the systematization, which is not so flexible, so that we have to solve each case separately. That number at the moment is 75, and we intend to minimize it as much as possible," said Radović.
We recently announced that Montenegro lacks one and a half thousand police officers. How will you solve this problem?
"That's the number one problem. It's a daily topic, also an inherited problem. We're missing, as you said yourself, 30 percent of the regular staff. In January, we received the 14th generation of Police Academy trainees, that's 55 colleagues. In the coming period we will receive the 15th generation of students from the Police Academy, which should be 66 colleagues. To make the situation even more difficult, a survey of the age structure of civil servants was carried out in cooperation with the OSCE, which is also worrying, and 175 civil servants will be able to exercise the right to an early retirement pension by the end of this year. We do not know how many will decide to use it right, the conditions are really favorable, with an increase of 30 percent due to the previous suit, but we believe that this number will be significant due to the age structure and the fact that the regular staff has been continuously working overtime for a long time, in order to compensate for this lack of 1.477% of employees . There are two variants of solving the problem we are discussing. The decision-makers, including the minister, the prime minister, are aware of this problem, and I hope that it will start to be solved as soon as possible in one form or another, in order to have a full composition. The data is really worrying. For example, in one city you have an intervention unit with a total of 30 officers, and 30 of those 12 officers will be eligible for retirement by the end of this year," said Radović.
And what are the two variants that you said are being discussed?
"Both variants imply the accelerated admission into the system of several hundred officers, a changed method of selection compared to the existing one and shorter basic police training. The current legal limitation is really a limit for the admission of trainees into the service and it implies that they have a fifth degree of education, which really narrows the circle people from whom we can make a selection," said Radović.
What is the average salary in the Police Directorate?
"The material status of employees has significantly improved in the last period. We have organizational units that, due to the importance of the jobs and the difficulty of the tasks they publish, are entitled to a special allowance. This is a significant category. Also, we had a salary increase twice in the last period, so I would characterized the salary as decent in our conditions. And we have one question, which is that the principle that the difficulty and complexity of the tasks is accompanied by the level of salary is not fully respected, so we have to make a fair distribution in the following period, but certainly in terms of material status officials are pleased with the announced additional salary increase.
And when we talk about the average right now, what is that figure?
"It is over a thousand euros," said Radović.
The other day, eight border police officers were arrested on suspicion of accepting bribes. What is known so far - how many bribes did they receive and do you suspect that similar things happen at other border crossings?
"Internal control carried out a case about which the public was informed. Unfortunately, this case is not an isolated case. This will be and is the subject of the work of our services. The officials, in addition to being suspected of having committed a criminal offense, have significantly damaged the reputation of the great number of honorable and honest policemen who regularly perform their tasks, I would rather use this opportunity to invite and point out to colleagues, who may decide on this or similar behavior, that this case be an example and model of how the service treats this phenomenon corruption is the number one priority and it is the officers of the Police Administration who fight against corruption, not to enforce it," said Radović.
Is it known how much bribery they received?
"I have certain information, but the case was handled by the Internal Control, it is part of the MUP, and I would not disclose that information because of the case itself," said Radović.
What is your cooperation with the Minister of Internal Affairs, Danilo Šaranović, since he disputed yours and filed a complaint with the Administrative Court regarding the method of election?
"Just as you said, the minister addressed the question regarding the elections to the Government of Montenegro and the Administrative Court, I would not comment on that. The cooperation is continuous and professional," concluded Radović.
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