Ordinary people report that corruption is everywhere, including the police and those organisations that are, along with the Prosecutor’s Office, tasked with combating corruption, according to the POINTPULSE public opinion survey from July 2015.

By Saša Djordjević (BCSP)

The poor state of the economy is the main problem the Serbian public face. When they are not preoccupied with this, they have time to worry about corruption, which is something a vast majority think has become an everyday part of the society. Ordinary people report that corruption is everywhere, including the police and those organisations that are, along with the Prosecutor’s Office, tasked with combating corruption. These are the key findings of a regional public opinion survey on police integrity designed and conducted by the POINTPULSE Network. Ipsos Strategic Marketing conducted the field research by questioning a representative sample of 1,205 adult Serbian citizens in June 2015.

Polling public opinion is a corrective mechanism for statistical indicators on police effectiveness. A more accurate picture of police performance can be obtained by cross-referencing data on how ordinary members of the public view how well the police are doing in maintaining public security. Over the past six months representatives of the Ministry of Interior have had much to say about successes achieved by the police but this is something on which the public should have the final say.

The police are unable to shake their corrupt image

Only four percent of those surveyed think that there is no corruption in the police. More than two thirds of the public think that police corruption is widespread. The public consistently rate the police as being in the top five most corrupt institutions. This is yet to change and the police are in good company along with the health system, the customs administration, the judiciary and departments of market inspection.

Security is the first thing members of the public associate with the police but their next association is corruption. Things become much worse if the public are asked to bring to mind an ordinary Serbian policeman, those they meet daily on the street. The most common association is that police officers are arrogant, impertinent and terse (29 percent), which is closely followed by those who say officers are corrupt (16 percent) and uneducated (14 percent). These views together contribute to the perception held by 67 percent of the public that the thing the police do least is serve the public. Less than a third of the Serbian public (27 percent) disagree with this opinion.

According to public opinion, the traffic police are the most corrupt, followed by those branches tasked with combating financial crime and the border police. These results are similar to those from two years ago when the BCBP conducted a similar survey. The branches of the police with the worst ratings are those that are most regularly in contact with the public. Compared with two years ago, however, the extent of corruption has spread to reach into branches of the police combating financial and organised crime. This trend can be connected with scandals regarding the police involvement in the Šarić case (the allegation that, under the alias General Papaya, Rodoljub Milović, the Director of the Criminial  Force Directorate, had created the Zemun Clan or Branko Lazarević, former chief of staff to the Minister of Interior, being charged with leaks of police information) but some of these views are also based on people’s personal experiences.

The fact that the public assess which parts of the police are corrupt based on their interaction with the police or on general perceptions is complemented by the fact that police accepting bribes is most often tied to the traffic or border police, based on public interaction with these branches. Police taking bribes from criminals is closely tied to the public perception that criminality cannot exist without close links with the police, especially those branches combating financial and organised crime.

The police force is fertile ground for corruption. A vast majority of the public believe that corruption is an everyday phenomenon in Serbian society, that it’s everywhere, even in the police. Police corruption exists because high-ranking police officers are corrupt, as is most often claimed by people who from Belgrade or other urban areas, who also believe there is little or no chance corrupt police officers will be caught. Most disagreement occurs when the public are asked whether low police wages cause corruption, with roughly half agreeing with this – especially in Belgrade – and the other half disagreeing.

The management of human resources is politicised

As many as 82 percent of the Serbian public believe politicians interfere with the work of the police. This opinion jeapordises police reform, which should be conducted in accordance with democratic principles, and suggests that the police are not seen as a public service but as an extension of the interests of political parties. Two thirds of the Serbian public (67 percent) believe that the thing the police do least is serve the public. Less than a third of the Serbian public (27 percent) disagree with this opinion.

Politicisation becomes apparent when it comes to employment or promotion in the police and 53 percent of the public – 17 percent more than two years ago – believe that personal connections are crucial for getting a job in the police. Preference if granted, however, to acquaintance and kinship at a rate twice that of the survey two years previous. According to every seventh member of the public, being awarded a job comes on the back of the candidate paying to be employed. The percentage of people who believe that getting a police job is linked to job advertisements and the knowledge and abilities of the candidate – certainly something to be encouraged.

We need responsible police officers

Due to the above, it should not be surprising that one in five people think that the priority of reforms should be improvements in police responsibility and discipline while one in six think corruption should be the priority. Young people think most of the effort should be invested in educating police officers and that this should start from the top down as 28 percent believe that high ranking police officers are corrupt. The effort should only then be expanded to regular police officers and detectives.

The public are divided on how to reduce corruption: Half are of the opinion that political will is not a key problem and that institutions should be strengthened; the other half believe strong institutions are in place but that political will is lacking. Asked about reducing police corruption, 35 percent believe that the police do not truly want to effectively combat corruption in their ranks, 33 percent believe the police do want this but are not in a position to do so, while 29 percent of respondents believe that they want to and can.

The number of people who would report corruption to the police internal affairs sector has gone down. Two years ago one in five people who decided to report police corruption would file a complaint with the internal affairs sector. This figure is now one in six. The first port of call is the Anti-Corruption Agency, even though most people think the internal affairs sector should be doing most to address the issue of police corruption.

The public believe that repressive measures are the main measures for combating police corruption. The most popular measure is stricter punishment for perpetrators of corrupt practices (22 percent), closely followed by more punishment of corrupt high-ranking officers (21 percent). This is consistent with the opinion that high-ranking officers are the most corrupt. As with the survey from two years ago, there remains a problem with reporting corruption if people are required to provide their personal details. The main cause of this is fear for personal safety. The prevailing opinion is that civil society should cooperate with the government in combating police corruption.

A chance for change with the new Law on the Police

The public have identified three main problems with police reform. The corrupt image is hard to shake. Day-to-day police work is subject to a high degree of party political influence. Those police officers who are employed or promoted on the back of their qualifications are in a minority. Moreover, the public have been clear on what they expect from an ordinary police officer and who is responsible for this. Internal Affairs should endeavour to create responsible police officers. The image of corruption should be fixed by changing the culture of the rank and file. Punishment alone is not enough. Changing the convictions, values, attitudes and knowhow should result in professional police officers who are indispensible for the continuation of police reform.

In the fourteen years since democratic transition began in Serbia, the roles of the Ministry of Interior and the police are yet to be clearly separated so that the former is responsible for establishing priorities based on the needs of the public and providing relevant resources, while the latter is charged with preserving and enhancing public security. This ought to be changed. Recruitment to the police must be conducted via public advertisements. The criteria for promotion should also be made public. Personal qualifications and knowhow should be the main criteria for promotion.

The new Law on the Police, having been postponed three times and now expected to be passed in the autumn, should resolve some of these issues. The biggest advance made in the draft law lies in the operational and developmental planning of police work, with a clear delineation of interior affairs and law enforcement. Human resource management is also set to improve. The main shortcomings of the proposed law are its failure to create sufficient conditions for the de-politicisation of police operations and instil democratic oversight thereof. The new anti-corruption measures, such as integrity checks and audits of police officers’ property, are not sufficiently precisely formulated.

The Balkan Syndrome

Unemployment, poverty and low standards of living are symptoms of the ‘Balkan Syndrome’ afflicting Bosnia Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia. The other main symptom is corruption. As in Serbia, corruption elsewhere in the region is not seen as a key problem but merely as something normal in society. As with other walks of life, police corruption is ever present.

Police forces across the region face similar problems. Confidence in the police is low. Operational policing is subject to a high degree of party political influence. High ranking officers are seen as the most corrupt. Corruption in recruitment remains a serious problem.

Across the region, public trust in the police is below the world average of 60-90 percent, though in all of the countries it is close to the 60 percent mark. Public trust is highest in Montenegro, followed by Kosovo and Bosnia Herzegovina, with Serbia in last place. The proportion of the public who have no confidence whatsoever in the police is higher than those who have full confidence.

Political parties in the region continue to have a huge impact on operational policing. This hinders the democratic development of the police, its development into a public service and the police reform process. This state of affairs is at its worst in Bosnia Herzegovina and Serbia, where more than 80 percent of people see politics as influencing operational policing.

Nepotism is key to police recruitment across the region. One in two citizens of Montenegro, Bosnia Herzegovina and Serbia believe that police officers are recruited because they have a friend or relative already employed in the police. Another route in is through links with political parties. The police in Kosovo are the only ones bucking this trend as 54 percent of Kosovans believe candidates are selected through open and fair competition, though ties with political parties are rated as more valuable than friends and relatives in Montenegro, Serbia and Bosnia Herzegovina. Also worrying is the prevailing opinion that high-ranking officers are the most corrupt. People from across the region agree that more robust punishment is the key to reducing corruption.

The article was originally published in the weekly magazine Vreme.