While Kurir reported Kornic has filed a criminal report with Serbia’s Higher Public Prosecutor about the alleged blackmail attempt, Stefanovic’s reaction to the allegations has raised questions as to whether he overstepped his ministerial powers.

Mario Reljanovic, a lecturer at the law faculty of the Union University in Belgrade, told BIRN that Stefanovic’s reaction is “legally inappropriate” and claimed it was “just the latest example of how the police department is politicised by the ruling party”.

“The minister’s behaviour is legally unsustainable. This all looks like a big process of the politicisation of police institutions, because the minister is not responsible to citizens, as he should be, he is accountable only to his political bosses,” Reljanovic said.

Sasa Djordjevic, a researcher at the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy, told BIRN that Stefanovic’s actions served only to cause “fear and demonstrate the force” of the government to citizens.

“It is absolutely needless that special units of the police in ‘full gear’ attended the conference and conveyed the wrong image to citizens,” Djordjevic said, noting the Police Act prohibits the police from acting politically.

“All national and international standards of police conduct have been broken in this case, because political neutrality is one of the basic principles of the police service,” he underlined, pointing out that the duty of police officers is to protect and respect the fundamental rights and freedoms of all individuals.

Political control ‘from the top’

Misa Vasic, a journalist for the Serbian weekly Vreme and a former police officer, told BIRN he believes that the process of political control of police departments starts from the top down.

“Control of the police comes from the top down. The first thing you do is to bring the minister who is the party’s soldier. Then the minister, based on bogus affairs, removes people and brings in his own,” Vasic claimed, referring to the June 2014 sacking of five police chiefs.

While Vucic said the dismissals had been recommended by Stefanovic and approved by Milorad Veljov, the director of the police service, in accordance with Serbian law, the precise reasons for the sackings have never been made public. Many observers worry the law allows for installing pro-party officials at the expense of independent ones.

“This [change of personnel] is done in the same way on the level of local municipalities, therefore [resulting in] a complete shift of police officers and resetting [criteria] for eligible people,” said Vasic.

“The previous government also tried to control the police sector, but not to this extent. This government has no sense of proportion on this issue at all.”

In addition to changes in police management and personnel, analysts believe recent examples of public policing suggest an unacceptable level of political influence over the service.

The Belgrade Centre for Security Policy’s Djordjevic cites how police officers prevented protesters from rallying this September at the site of the Belgrade Waterfront riverside development as an example of how the service has become politicised.

Protesters claim that while they were blocked from reaching the site, police officers allowed access to members of the ruling Progressive Party and other supporters of the government-backed development.

Draft law ‘leaves room for political influence’

The Belgrade Centre for Security Policy published its Assessment of Police Integrity in Serbia report on November 26. The authors claim the politicisation of the police service and “excessive discretionary powers of the interior minister” are key obstacles to ensuring the police service is politically neutral.

Provisions of the Draft Police Act:

Article 4 of the Draft Police Act allows for the interior minister to prescribe how internal affairs are investigated and to give instructions relating to performance.

Article 3 allows the minister to give instructions to the police on how they carry out criminal investigations.

Article 14 allows the minister to request reports, data and other documents relating to the work of the police and the ministry, with respect to professional, technical and operational independence of the police. This is widely regarded as problematic because it allows the minister access to all documents in the possession of the police without restriction.

The report also criticises draft policing laws as failing to provide sufficient and necessary conditions for the de-politicisation of police management.

However, Amadeo Watkins, special adviser to the interior ministry, called the report “tendentious” in an official statement released on November 26 and later defended the minister during an interview with the N1 TV on December 2.

“The minister works professionally… I see no desire… that something be politicised or done unprofessionally,” Watkins said.

The Belgrade Centre for Security Policy responded to Watkins’ comments by listing articles of the proposed law that they say leave room for unacceptable political influence over policing, including the fact the minister will still be able to appoint and dismiss police chiefs without adhering to transparent processes.

In addition, the centre underlined that as long as the minister can recommend the director of the police service be dismissed the holder of that position is unlikely to be able to function in a politically neutral fashion that might result in his sacking.

During the past few months the Police Union of Serbia had been calling for protests against the law and also to demand pay increases but then gave up attempts to redraft the legislation following a meeting with Vucic on December 1.

Vucic and union representatives instead reached an agreement that will see the draft Police Act temporarily withdrawn during a public consultation process. In addition, daily allowances for interior ministry staff will be increased to around 15 euros. Next year a separate, one-off payment of around 150 euros will be paid to all interior ministry staff.

“We are grateful to the prime minister for his understanding” said Veljko Mijailovic, president of the Police Union of Serbia.

BIRN contacted the union for a response on the draft Police Act but they declined to comment. BIRN also contacted the Serbian Interior Ministry for comment but has not received an answer.

Meanwhile, public confidence in the independence of the police as a public service remains shockingly low in Serbia.

Of 1200 Serbs who participated in an IPSOS Strategic Marketing poll carried out in July this year, 25 per cent of respondents said they believe the police service acts to protect government interests. A quarter said the police protects the interests of political parties, while 23 per cent believe they act to protect the interests of senior police officials.

According to annual research conducted between 2008 and 2015 by the OSCE Serbia office and POINTPULSE, a network of regional civil society organisations, on average more than 70 per cent of participants believe politicians get involved in operational policing.

On average, just four per cent of respondents over the last eight years believe political policy does not affect how the police service operates.