Regulation of appointments and dismissals of top police posts in Montenegro has some advantages, namely reflected in the high entry requirements. Nonetheless, numerous persistent problems of human resource management in country’s public administration are reflected onto the police as well.

By Milena Milošević (IA) 
@Milenitsa

Despite the explicit ban on political partisanship of Police’s employees, professionalization of Montenegro’s Police Administration is deeply dependent on the overall professionalization of the Ministry of Interior and the country’s public administration, whose senior posts remain largely exposed to political influence despite certain policy efforts. This context might hamper the effects of the 2014 legislative changes of the Law on Internal Affairs which have set the bar very high for entering the police’s top posts and have a potential to reduce scope for political maneuvering.

The importance of professionalizing police and its heads is great given its role in curbing corruption and the sheer size of Police Administration. This institution is comprised of 4,203 people,[1] accounting for more than third of the entire state administration.[2] The police itself is part of the Ministry of Interior, which makes this institution subordinated, or more precisely, not entirely independent and autonomous.[3] The institute of the “authority within the Ministry” has been introduced by the Public Administration Reform Strategy for the period 2011-2016, with an aim of rationalizing the country’s cumbersome public sector. These organizational changes not only reduced the overall level of independence of the police management, but also made it directly accountable to the top managers of the Ministry of Interior, whose status is regulated in a different manner.

Although sharing most of the challenges with other public officials and senior managers in Montenegro’s public administration, positions within the country’s police are subject to special regulations. The relevant legal framework which determines the status of the police’s management is comprised namely from the Law on State Administration, Law on Civil Servants and State Employees and Law on Internal Affairs. The latter, however, plays a crucial role, since, as a special law, it has supremacy in regulating the recruitment conditions for police’s top posts.

Appointments and dismissals

The Law on Internal Affairs specifies in details conditions for the appointments of the police director and its four deputy directors, placing a caveat on lengthy work experience in justice and security sectors.[4] These requirements for police senior posts are much higher than for senior managers in the rest of the public administration.[5] Also, the consent of the Parliament is needed for the final appointment of the police director. Nonetheless, the reports on interviews conducted with prospective candidates neither for the police director nor for his or her deputies are made public. Also, there is no written testing, whose results would make a more objective ground for appointments. The described solutions are thus two-faced.

Conditions for dismissal of head and head’s deputies, however, are under-regulated. They are not specified in the Law on Internal Affairs, which means that these issues are completely regulated by the Law on State Administration and Law on Civil Servants and State Employees. The Law on State Administration states only that the head of authority shall be dismissed by the Government, on the motion of the minister.[6] Although it says that the reasons for dismissal specified by the Law on Civil Servants and State Employees should also apply to heads of authorities, this solution is not precise enough, and it can make these posts susceptible to political interference.

Beyond the special laws: puzzle of political neutrality

Apart from the imprecise regulation of dismissals and lack of transparency in appointments, there are other problems related to the professional status of police’s managers. These are dependent on the overall context of rather high politicization of Montenegro’s public administration, which is one of its most criticized aspects by the EU.[7] In addition, the nominally professionalized senior civil service in Montenegro is in reality subject to direct political influence. Therefore, although the police officers are clearly forbidden to take part in political campaigns, the overall environment of the loosely regulated political neutrality of civil servants is a constraining factor. More specifically, the directors generals in the ministries, to whom police deputy directors are also subordinated, although nominally professional posts, are in reality exposed to political influence, and even openly demonstrate political partisanship by participating in the work of parties’ advisory and managing bodies.

The IA’s previous research record[8] demonstrated that considerable number of senior managers, namely directors generals and secretaries in the ministries, and heads of administration authorities other than the ministries, at least 90 of them, are simultaneously members of bodies of political parties currently in power. Given that Montenegro has a total number of 178 senior civil servants,[9] this means that more than half of them has a clear and publicly expressed party affiliation. This goes for the Ministry of Interior as well, whose senior managers are on the list of members of the advisory body of the ruling Democratic Party of Socialists: Council for Following the Implementation of the Electoral Program.[10] This is a result of the legal loopholes, namely imprecision in the Law on Civil Servants and State Employees, which regulated political neutrality of civil servants in very broad terms. It just prescribed that they should restrain from expression from their political attitudes and that political activity during working hours is considered to be serious breach of official duty. Political neutrality of employees of Police Administration is better regulated by the Law on Internal Affairs and the Electoral Law.

There is an explicit ban on party membership of all employees, and police officers are by all means forbidden to take part in political campaigns.[11] Nonetheless, it is the context that matters, and one should bear in mind the organizational hierarchy of Ministry of Interior includes Police Administration as an authority within this Ministry. The Ministry’s Rule-book on internal organization also stipulates that not only the police’s head is accountable to the minister, but his deputies are held accountable also by the relevant directors generals of the Ministry of Interior.[12] Hence, although a lot has been done to depoliticize police’s top posts, these efforts remain hampered by the insufficient depoliticization of managerial posts in the ministries.

As a result, the Police is spared neither from inter-party bargaining in Montenegro nor from sporadic participation of its officers in political campaigns.[13] Also, in 2012, Council for Civic Control of Police, advisory body tasked with analysis whether police exceeded its authorities, reacted against the case of one acting deputy director of Police Administration, who, upon the appointment to this post, continued to participate in the work of local assembly of capital Podgorica in front of the ruling Democratic Party of Socialists. Although this person subsequently resigned from the post, his previous political engagement is an illustration of the extent to which professional and political posts in Montenegro are intertwined.

Political parties forming the very core of Montenegro’s ruling coalition are frequently accused of having a say over police appointments. For example, prior to appointment of the most recent director of Police Administration, which was preceded by the lengthy period during which the post remain vacant and filled only on an “acting director” basis, media and opposition accused the ruling coalition of stalling the selection of the police’s heads due to the internal disagreements.[14]

Incompetent about competencies

Other poor practices in human resource management across the public administration are also mirrored in the police, including the non-alignment of internal acts of organizations and systematization of posts within each authority to its specific needs and to special competences of prospective employees. In that respect, it is important to make a distinction between competencies and qualifications, given that competencies are related to human capital and human resources that lead to a greater productivity, whereas qualifications are the basic requirements for performing certain tasks.[15]

Montenegro is missing framework of competencies for all the job categories within its public administration, including the police, although, adoption of these frameworks is becoming a trend among recent EU member states.[16] The advantage of the competency based management approach is even greater in small countries, such as Montenegro, with limited human resources, since it enables getting the best out of people. It enables individual assessment of each person occupying certain position, mapping of his or hers strengths and weaknesses, which can serve as a basis for recruitment, performance appraisal, training and overall professional development. With respect to police, adoption of special competency frameworks is also recommended practice present throughout the EU. This practice is very developed in countries such as Great Britain, where special competency framework for the police was introduced in early 2000-s, for all roles, ranks and levels within the police, with an aim ensuring police’s effective performance.

Montenegro’s lack of performance based culture

Although Montenegro does not have a special competency profile for top posts in the police, there are certain mechanisms, which should ensure the proper performance of the country’s police. This institution has its own Code of Ethics, internal control department, and is also subject to external control through parliamentary scrutiny and Council For Civic Control of the Police. Nonetheless, these bodies rarely address performance of the police’s heads.[17] Also, professional training in Montenegro regularly circumvent the top managers.[18]

The country’s legislative and regulatory framework envisages performance appraisal of senior managers, thus deputy heads of the Police Administration, but the director himself is not assessed based on his performance. In general, performance appraisal of public administration employees is done in a very superficial way, with the breach of legal deadlines and neglect of specific benchmarks and criteria. In Police Administration, out of 3,666 employees who were appraised in 2013, most of them received good grades (2,985), only a small portion excellent grades (203), performance of 466 employees was satisfactory and performance of 12 of them non-satisfactory.[19]

The senior managers are assessed only with satisfactory or unsatisfactory grade but from the start of the implementation of the new Law on Civil Servants and State Employees in January 2013 none of the senior managers received unsatisfactory grade, which should be a basis for their automatic dismissal. In general, Montenegro lacks culture of dismissing people due to the poor performance. Even in the cases in which the managers should be held accountable for the under-performance in certain matters, they give resignations on personal request, as demonstrated in the recent case of resignation of deputy police director due to the series of explosions and incidents.[20] The resignation on the personal request is a frequent mechanism, which is used in Montenegro, since dismissals due to the bad performance are practically non-existent. This suggests that much of the management of the top posts in the country’s administration is done behind the closed door, but also deprives managers, who might have been pressured to resign on “personal request”, to appeal and protect their rights.

What Next?

(i) The Law on Internal Affairs should be amended to clearly specify the conditions for dismissal of head and deputy heads of Police Administration, with an aim of reducing discretionary dismissals of this personnel.

(ii) Government of Montenegro and Human Resources Management Authority should make reports on the assessment of prospective candidates for top posts in public administration, including the police, publicly available.

(iii) Overall professionalization efforts of the Ministry of Interior and entire country’s administration need to be stepped up, starting from explicit ban on directors generals in the ministries to have membership in advisory and managing bodies of the political parties.

(iv) Police Administration, in cooperation with the Police Academy, Human Resources Management Authority, Ministry of Interior, and Government of Montenegro, needs to develop a competency framework, a set of desired skills and traits, for employees of the Police Administration.

(v) Such developed framework of competencies should serve as a basis for appointment, training and performance appraisal of this staff.

(vi) Human Resource Management Authority and Police Academy should organize joint targeted training’s for top personnel in the police, with an aim of increasing their awareness on their rights and duties and on competency based management practices.

Sources

H. Kuperus and A. Rode, A., Top Public Managers in Europe: Management and Working Conditions of the Senior Civil Servants in the European Union Member States (Study Commissioned by the French EU-Presidency), Maastricht, European Institute of Public Administration, 2008.

Decree on Manner and Organization of State Administration, Official Gazette of Montenegro No. 05/12, January 23rd 2012.

Elstrom, in: Milan Pagon, Emanuel Banutai, Uroš Bizjak, Univesirty of Maribor Slovenia, Leadership Competencies for Succesful Change Management, Slovenian Presidency of the EU 2008, available at: http://goo.gl/Rm3ibE

Government of Montenegro, Human resources plan of state administration bodies and services of the Government of Montenegro for the year 2015, June 2015).

Government of Montenegro, Report on realization of Plan for internal reorganization of public sector for the last quarter of 2013 and first two quarters of 2014, Podgorica, September 2014.

Human Resource Management Authority, Work Report for the Year 2014, May 2015, Available at: http://goo.gl/snDBmn

Institute Alternative, Professionalization of Senior Civil Service: Between State and Politics, Podgorica, December 2014, Available at: http://goo.gl/LReLs1

Law on Election of MPs and Councillors, Official Gazette of Montenegro, No. 4/98, February 18th 1998, No. 05/98, February 25th 1998, No. 17/98, May 20th1998, No. 14/00, March 17th 2000, No. 18/00 od March 31st 2000, No. 09/01, February 22nd 2001, No. 09/01 March 2nd 2001, No. 41/02, August 2nd 2002, No. 46/02 September 10th 2002, No. 45/04, July 2nd 2004, No. 48/06 July 28th 2006, No. 56/06, September 7th 2006, No. 46/11, September 6th 2011, No. 14/14, March 22nd 2014, No. 47/14, November 7th 2014.

Law on State Administration, Official Gazette of Montenegro No. 38/03, June 27th 2003; No. 22/08, April 2nd 2008; No. 42/11, August 15th 2011.

Ministry of Interior, Government of Montenegro, Rule-book on internal organization and systematization of job positions, Podgorica, March 2014.

Montenegro Progress Report 2014, European Commission, October 2014, available at: http://goo.gl/zWJgzf

Official website of Democratic Party of Socialists, Access December 3, 2014

Police Academy, General programme of education, professional training and specialized development for servants and employees of MoI, Police Administration, and other security authorities for the period April 1, 2013 until April 1, 2014, Available at: http://goo.gl/dvtJE1

Slavko Stojanović novi direktor policije, Vijesti, March 2013, available at: http://goo.gl/eBTzd8

Vuksanović ćuti o aplauzima policajaca na konferenciji DPS-a, Vijesti, April 2012, available at: http://goo.gl/jTbvjS

Endnotes

[1]Information obtained by Institute Alternative via free access to information

[2]According to the Human Resources Plan, adopted by the Government in June 2016, there were 10.469 people employed in state administration authorities and General Secretariat of the Government (Government of Montenegro, Human resources plan of state administration bodies and services of the Government of Montenegro for the year 2015, June 2015)

[3]Decree on Manner and Organization of State Administration, Official Gazette of Montenegro No. 05/12, January 23rd 2012, Law on State Administration, Official Gazette of Montenegro No. 38/03, June 27th 2003; No. 22/08, April 2nd 2008; No. 42/11, August 15th 2011

[4] Police’s head is required to have at least 15 years of work experience at the positions requiring high education, including at least 5 years of experience at managerial positions in the Police, court, state prosecution or National Security Agency. Similarly strict conditions are prescribed for the director’s deputies, who need to have at least 10 years of work experience at the positions requiring high education, including at least 3 years of experience at managerial positions in the Police, court, state prosecution or National Security Agency. Deputy directors are appointed by the minister at the proposal of the police’s director.

[5]According to the existing regulation, senior civil servants do not need to be experts or specialists in the areas they cover. On average, they are mostly required to have an undergraduate degree in social sciences and at least three years of working experience in managerial positions or positions requiring autonomy in work.

[6]Article 44, Law on State Administration, Official Gazette no 38/03, 22/08, 42/11.

[7] European Commission in its most recent progress report also highlighted importance of monitoring recruitment in public administration, especially of the senior staff (See: Montenegro Progress Report 2014, European Commission, October 2014, available at: http://goo.gl/zWJgzf

[8] Institute Alternative, Professionalization of Senior Civil Service: Between State and Politics, Podgorica, December 2014, Available at: http://goo.gl/LReLs1

[9] Government of Montenegro, Human resources plan of state administration bodies and services of the Government of Montenegro for the year 2015, June 2015

[10] Information obtained from the official website of Democratic Party of Socialists, Access December 3, 2014

[11]Law on Election of MPs and Councillors, Official Gazette of Montenegro, No. 4/98, February 18th 1998, No. 05/98, February 25th 1998, No. 17/98, May 20th1998, No. 14/00, March 17th 2000, No. 18/00 od March 31st 2000, No. 09/01, February 22nd 2001, No. 09/01 March 2nd 2001, No. 41/02, August 2nd 2002, No. 46/02 September 10th 2002, No. 45/04, July 2nd 2004, No. 48/06 July 28th 2006, No. 56/06, September 7th 2006, No. 46/11, September 6th 2011, No. 14/14, March 22nd 2014, No. 47/14, November 7th 2014

[12]Ministry of Interior, Government of Montenegro, Rule-book on internal organization and systematization of job positions, Podgorica, March 2014

[13]See: Vuksanović ćuti o aplauzima policajaca na konferenciji DPS-a, Vijesti, April 2012, available at: http://goo.gl/jTbvjS

[14]See: Slavko Stojanović novi direktor policije, Vijesti, March 2013, available at: http://goo.gl/eBTzd8

[15]Elstrom, in: Milan Pagon, Emanuel Banutai, Uroš Bizjak, Univesirty of Maribor Slovenia, Leadership Competencies for Succesful Change Management, Slovenian Presidency of the EU 2008, available at: https://goo.gl/r8njH1

[16]See: Cf. H. Kuperus and A. Rode, A., Top Public Managers in Europe: Management and Working Conditions of the Senior Civil Servants in the European Union Member States (Study Commissioned by the French EU-Presidency), Maastricht, European Institute of Public Administration, 2008

[17]For example, the most of the breaches of the Code of Ethics were reported by managers in the police, but managers themselves are rarely subject of complaints.

[18]Although Human Resource Management Authority in 2014 developed special training programmes for managers, it has included neither senior managerial staff nor heads of authorities, but only expert managerial staff which attended the trainings in negligible number (See: Human Resource Management Authority, Work Report for the Year 2014, May 2015, Available at: http://goo.gl/snDBmn. The Police Academy also has a significant role in conducting special trainings for the police, but its 2013 – 2014 curriculum also failed to include the police’s top posts among the target groups (See: Police Academy, General programme of education, professional training and specialized development for servants and employees of MoI, Police Administration, and other security authorities for the period April 1, 2013 until April 1, 2014, Available at: http://goo.gl/dvtJE1 )

[19] Government of Montenegro, Report on realization of Plan for internal reorganization of public sector for the last quarter of 2013 and first two quarters of 2014, Podgorica, September 2014

[20] Milan Tomic, deputy director managing the sector of criminal police in Police Administration, resigned in February 2015 on personal request. Although his resignation followed several incidents in the capital Podgorica, there are only media speculations that it was the direct result of personal accountability for the incidents.