The POINTPULSE providing up-to-date information and backgrounders about policing in the Western Balkans.

The POINTPULSE network in a period from 30 of May to 8 of June 2016 organized social media campaign “Learning about Balkan Cops” in order to increase the knowledge of the broader public about policing in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo.

The POINTPULSE network published daily a backgrounder with basic information on police service in regard to history and development, competences and territories, police powers and internal and external oversight.

You can follow #BalkanCops on Twitter and like the POINTPULSE page on Facebook and therefore support our activities.

#BalkanCops Tweets

Backgrounders on Policing in the Western Balkans

Albania

Albanian State Police is a public administration institution within the administrative responsibility of the Minister of Interior for public order and security. The Ministry of Interior employs about 14681 personnel (including police forces staff), which constitute 16.6 % of the total public administration employees.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina has a very complex organizational police system which is determined by a complicated constitutional structure of the state. Police forces are distributed on three levels with 16 police bodies in total where none of them has subordinate role.

Macedonia

The police in Macedonia are a centralized force under the Ministry of the Interior, consisting of uniformed police, criminal police, and border police. The number of staff currently within the Ministry is about 11 thousand and 18% are women.

Montenegro

The Police Directorate is the main law enforcement agency in Montenegro. Overall political responsibility for policing tasks lies within the Ministry of Interior. The data from the April 2015 show that the Police in Montenegro has 4203 employees, of whom 363 are women.

Serbia

Police force in Serbia is primarily defined as a state administration body within the Ministry of Interior. In order to carry out all of the functions the police are responsible for, the Ministry of Interior employs 42817 personnel, of which 28266 are police officers in uniform.

Kosovo

The Kosovo Police is an executive agency of the Ministry of Internal Affairs which deals with law enforcement, and it’s responsible for preserving public order and providing safety in Kosovo. The data from the August 2015 show that the Kosovo police has 8693 employees, of which 1248 are women.

Statistics