PRISHTINE — The member of the POINTUPULSE Network, Kosovar Centre for Security Studies (KCSS), has published the research concerning the citizens’ perceptions on police integrity in Kosovo.
This special edition of the KCSS presents the analysis on Kosovo’s public perception on police integrity. In order to monitor and evaluate the extent of good governance in the Kosovo Police, it was essential to include the citizens’ perceptions on a set of issues with respect to the integrity of police officers in Kosovo. The report provides a comprehensive and detailed data interpretation concerning perceptions of the public opinion based on a pre-defined set of questions on the issue at hand.
There is a positive public attitude towards the Kosovo Police in general, and such an impression is found among all the communities in Kosovo. According to our findings, the majority of the respondents (56 percent) express trust and high levels of trust towards the institution.
Such a perception has been mostly created based on the respondents’ personal experience and direct contact (58 percent) with the Kosovo Police, which makes their expressed opinion to be a more genuine one – i.e. not created through third parties, such as the media, and other potential third parties that may have an impact on overall public opinion.
The Traffic Police and the Border Police have had the most interaction or communication with the citizens. While one may have expected the Community Policing to rank first for direct contact with citizens, this did not turn out to be the case, mostly due to the underdeveloped concept and limited applicability on the ground.
Corruption is also perceived by the respondents to be present within the Kosovo Police, which is a problematic dimension for the integrity of the institution. Nonetheless, the perception of corruption within the Kosovo Police is lower than that for the other institutions. Less than 30 percent of citizens think that the Kosovo Police was affected by corruption in 2015, while more than 40 percent thought that the Kosovo Police was not affected by the phenomenon.
Despite the fact that the Kosovo Police has been subject of criticism by various stakeholders for being under political influence, majority of the respondents (53 percent) said that the Kosovo Police protects citizens’ interests, compared to 23 percent of those who said that the Kosovo Police is only under the Kosovo Government service, and 12 percent who were of the opinion that the Kosovo Police serves the political parties only.
The findings also suggest that there are obstacles which hinder the cooperation between citizens and the Kosovo Police because citizens feel insecure with respect to their private data protection and privacy misuse.
Finally, the findings show that the Police Inspectorate of Kosovo enjoys lower trust among the respondents when compared to their overall trust in
the Kosovo Police. Around 40 percent trust the work of the Police Inspectorate of Kosovo, compared to 30 percent of them who do not.
Public opinion survey was conducted in October 2016 covering all regions of Kosovo. The national sample from which the research was drawn featured 1,070 households.
Civil society organizations
dedicated to oversight of police integrity.