Next year is crucial for reform of human resources management within Serbian police

The reform of human resources management in the Serbian Ministry of Interior will be able to qualitatively change the policing in Serbia. However, it will require energy and commitment to the reforms, said David McCracken, the UK government advisor on the European Union accession programme in Serbia.

By Saša Djordjević (BCSP)
@Bambayay

Human resources management within Serbian police is often criticized as the weakest link of organization in the Ministry of Interior (MoI). The European Commission stated in the last Progress Report that there are no clear criteria for the recruitment, promotion, career path and evaluation of staff in the police, who remain vulnerable to politically motivated decisions. “Brussels” pointed out that Serbia needs to take steps to exclude any political influence from the police work and to continue with the reform of human resources management (HRM).

The MoI has recognized problem of managing human resources within police. The reform of HRM in the Serbian MoI began four years ago, involving 3.4 million Euros of international aid. The expected changes through the implementation of two projects, funded by the EU and the Swedish Agency for International Development, are to introduce modern concepts of HRM and to assist the development of the Sector for Human Resources Management, a special organizational unit within the MoI dedicated solely to the HRM.

Today, the POINTPULS Network is talking with David McCracken, who is directly involved as Advisor in the HRM reform within Serbian police service. The topics of the conversation are the challenges that are being faced and the future of Serbian policing. Mr. McCracken joined the Metropolitan Police in 1982 and served with Cambridgeshire Constabulary, Lothian and Borders Police and Police Scotland. He was Deputy to the Her Majesty’s Inspector of Policing in Scotland.

— You have been in Serbia for more than a year now, working on the strategic reform of Serbian police management. What was the situation with the Serbian Police at the moment when you arrived and began working on the project “Human Resource Management in the Ministry of Interior”?

I have been working on the EU reform projects within the Ministry of Interior for three years now, most recently as a residential advisor on the Human Resources Management project. Over recent years, the Ministry of Interior has received considerable support in enhancing its capability and capacity across a number of areas. Valuable as these projects have been, there has been a lack of the important Human Resources mechanisms to make these improvements sustainable.

For example, it is quite possible to provide assistance aimed at improving community policing, but such improvements need to be reflected in the competencies and job descriptions of all community officers. Moreover, they should be regularly appraised against these new competencies; a wider training of staff should encompass these new competencies where relevant; finally, the selection procedures and rules for promotion should also be able to test them.

Creating these systems and linkages has been the job of the EU Human Resources management project and linking all of these changes to the Ministry’s strategic priorities was the job of the previous EU project on Strategic Planning. The two projects are fundamentally linked.

— How would you describe the functionality of human resource management within Serbian Ministry of Interior, especially back in 2012? What was the biggest challenge?

The Human Resources function was perceived as a relatively low level administrative function, mainly supporting the recruitment and selection decisions. The process of changing this to become a strategic approach, a forward-looking function that helps the Ministry’s most senior manager’s link their workforce plan over the forthcoming three years to their strategic plan, is an enormous change.

The project has supported this change by providing study visits for acquainting with the HR practices in other countries, by providing coaching and mentoring for HR managers and, perhaps most importantly, helping the MoI to design the systems and structures that international standards for HRM function requires.

— How do you assess overall contribution of the Project in changing the system of human resources in the Serbian Police in the last year and a half? What changes will occur after the project implementation?

The functionality of the new HR Sector reflects what can be seen in most large public sector organisations throughout Europe. The policies and bylaws supporting many of the changes await finalisation at this time but this should not take long. Thereafter the project designed a large programme of training which will be completed several months after its implementation has ended. At this point, implementation of many of the key policies in areas such as promotion, recruitment and selection can begin.

— You said in one of our conversations that the next year is crucial for the police reform in Serbia, especially in regard to human resources management. Why do you think so?

For two reasons: First, the implementation phase will require energy and commitment. Change in any large organisation is difficult so in that regard, the Ministry of Interior is no different. Some will perceive themselves to be losers in a change that will open up selection and development opportunities and others will feel vulnerable by being associated with these changes. Read Machiavelli’s “The Prince” – it is as relevant a guide to organisational change today as it was when it was written in 1532.

Second, the changes that will take place within the Police Directorate will require a fully functioning system of HR management if they are to be made successfully. The matching of job descriptions to systems of appraisal and career development underpins changes in structures; they go hand-in-hand.

— You’re familiar with the process of drafting the new Law on Police in Serbia. What do you think about the draft of the Law, having in mind that one chapter of the Law is completely dedicated to the human resources management?

Serbia relies on its legislature to define in detail how the systems will operate, much more so than in the UK. The positive aspect that this brings is that compliance with reform is more likely since it is set out in the law on police and is being further defined in the supporting bylaws.

— Do you think that the act on the internal organization and job systematization in the Ministry of Interior or Police should be a confidential document? What is the situation in the UK or some EU member states?

I see no reason why the basic structures, posts and numbers of staff should not be available publicly. Much of this information is actually quite boring, but publishing it increases public confidence and visibility over what people’s taxes are paying for.

Further, if scrutiny of public services is to be effective, then basic information needs to be available to allow better questions to be asked. This is very important if the police are to be seen as providing a service focused on public need.

Obviously some details of police structures cannot be made so widely available, units involved in combatting terrorism or serious organised crime for example. These represent a tiny fraction however of an organisation the size of the Ministry.

— You led a series of joint inspections with other inspectorates in the UK and were the project manager for the Independent Review of Policing in Scotland. In your opinion, what is necessary to create efficient police internal control system?

Get it right – first time, by focusing on selecting the right people and managing them well using modern systems of management.

Make it clear what the Ministry expects from its entire staff in terms of a service ethic and absolute commitment to integrity and treating the public fairly. This is a leadership issue. The selection and training of the best leaders based upon an ethical and democratically accountable underpinning of policing, is the primary lever to create this culture across the Ministry.

Ensure that there are effective systems of accountability both locally in terms of policing and through parliamentary oversight at a national level, supported by some form of external scrutiny, reporting to the parliament and the public

Then focus on operating an effective and efficient approach to internal control in both proactive (anti-corruption) and reactive (investigative) modes.

— At the end, what do you think, what is the role of civil society in police reform and development process?

Policing is a service that can only be effective if the public has confidence in it. Demonstrating that police listen to and act upon public views and debates about policing, as encouraged by think-tanks, is a fundamental element in building trust and confidence.