Limited Parliamentary Oversight of the Police

PRISTINE – The work of the Parliament’s Committee on Internal Affairs was affected by the political crisis which started in mid-2014 to continue in 2015 and in the four first months of 2016.

Kosovar Centre for Security Studies (KCSS) launched and presented on 13 December 2016 the research on police integrity in Kosovo.

In relation to external oversight of the Kosovo Police by the relevant Kosovo Assembly’s Committee faces challenges as a result of the lack of professional capacities of the Assembly and political crisis.

“Activities of the Parliamentary Committee during 2016 were limited, therefore the Assembly should use its own budget to invest in building professional resources for a meaningful oversight of the Kosovo Police. Moreover, Committee members from the opposition parties did not participate in most of the committee meetings, specifically during 2015 and in the first part of 2016”, explained Mentor Vrajolli from the KCSS.

During 2016 a number of police officers have been involved as suspicious of being committed the criminal activities and violating of police authorizations. The case of the arrest of a police officer who was caught of transporting narcotics and other relevant cases have demonstrated that internal control mechanisms within the Kosovo Police should be strengthened in order to enhance police integrity.

“The Police Inspectorate of Kosovo needs to be more proactive towards supervision of the police aiming to increase the professionalism of the Kosovo Police”, pointed out Vrajolli.

When it comes to the human resource management, the issue on early retirement of the Kosovo police officers’ is still pending given that the respective draft law has not been adopted by the Government and the Assembly.

“There is no budget divided by the Government on this matter for the year of 2016”, highlighted Plator Avdiu from the KCSS.

On the other hand, two other important issues, including health insurance and life insurance for police officers during their official duties are not regulated yet in Kosovo.

“These challenges within the human resource management may directly influence on slowing down the police reforms”, concluded Avdiu.

Regarding the financial management, more precisely to public procurement, there have been cases when the Kosovo Police did not act in accordance with the Law on Public Procurement. In this regard, the procurement files were not well-prepared by the Kosovo Police. Accordingly, there were delays by the economic operators to fulfill on time projects and contracts of the Kosovo Police. Therefore, there is a need to have better monitoring process by the police towards the economic operators, emphasized Vrajolli and Avdiu from the KCSS.

The report intents to assess the integrity within the Kosovo Police. Progress and regress in relation to police integrity are measured through the following five sections: external oversight, internal accountability, human resource management, financial management and criminal prosecution.