BELGRADE — On the occasion of appointment of the new Police Director it is important for the Serbian Ministry of Interior to publicly disclose the reasons for the dismissal of his predecessor, claims Saša Djordjević from the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy for the N1 TV News.

By N1 / Photo: N1

“Citizens have the right to know whether the Police Director’s performance was rated as subpar or there were serious malfunctions in the work of the Police Directorate, especially at the moment when one of the largest police investigations, The Cutter, was conducted. If it is not explained to the public we have a situation resembling the one when a number of police generals were dismissed, when there were also no elaborations as to the reasons for it. Then, the right question can be raised—what are the criteria, are these political motives or some others. This is why it is extremely important to say why the Police Director was dismissed from his position,” said Djordjević during the central news broadcast at 7pm on TV N1.

He added that today two press releases were published, yet none provide the answer to the question of why Veljović was dismissed.

The Law on Police is not clear on the deadline for appointing the new Police Director, says Djordjević: “However, it is important that the appointment of the new Police Director is done in a fully transparent manner. Also, this is a perfect opportunity to practically implement the Ministry of Interior’s priorities, announced at the beginning of 2015, which include career advancement based exclusively on professional merit and personal integrity of the candidates.“

He added that it is important to follow the legal procedures, emphasising that the speculations in the public about the successor are counterproductive. A commission needs to be established that will announce a public call, based on which a list of candidates should be compiled, based on which the Minister of Interior nominates a candidate for the position of Police Director to the Government.

It is important not to follow the footsteps from 2012/2013 when Veljović was last time reappointed, given that the required public call was not launched for over a year. The similar situation happened more recently when for a period of 17 months there were no Head of Criminal Police Directorate, added Djordjević.

He claims that the successor fit for the position should be searched based on the criteria that were established by the MoI, which are the fight against organised crime and corruption, as well as the reform of the Ministry. He added that the Head of Police should be a professional that is aware of the importance of the need to depoliticise the police, to be well acquainted with the new Draft Law on Police that will introduce substantial changes in the areas of human resources management and strengthening of the internal control. It is crucial to see whether the candidates can put the list of Ministry of Interior’s priorities into practice, concluded Djordjević.

Translated by Bojan Elek.

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