This backgrounder provide an overview of the developments of police reform in Albania.

By Besjana Kuçi (IDM) / Photo: Wikipedia
@IDM_Tirana

A brief history of Albanian police

The dominant concept of security sector reform, after the fall of communism in 1991 in Albania, consisted in the reshaping the police based on the democratic models, as well as the separation of security and intelligence activities from police and public order activities.

The process police reform in Albania has developed in three main periods. The first period of police reform lasted until the crisis of 1997 when the police, not only failed to deal with it professionally, but also suffered heavy damages, as it became a target of the rioters. Administration in Albania used the crisis to purge the police forces and security agencies in order to re-establish law and order and begin reforms.

The second period is characterized by the efforts to return to normality after the crisis of 1997 until the year 2000. The scope of police reform in this period was to develop a new policing concept and to create a modern police force based on democratic models. The adoption of the 1999 Law on the State Police detached the police from the armed forces and oriented it towards the community policing concept.

The following period from 2000 until now can be considered the consolidation of the police organization both in terms of legal framework and internal capacities. The countries’ Euro-Atlantic integration ambition influenced this period largely. The subsequent Law on State Police amended twice in 2007 and 2014 in order to set out clearly the division of police from politics and defining police as a depoliticized institution and citizens oriented.

About Albanian State Police

Albanian State Police (ASP) is primarily defined, by the 2014 Law on State Police, as a public administration institution within the administrative responsibility of the Minister for public order and security.

According to the Law (Article 2), the mission of ASP is to maintain public order and security, protection of high state personalities and objects of particular importance, ensuring the rule of law, in compliance with the Constitution and international acts and respecting human rights and freedoms.

In order to carry out the tasks envisaged by the law, the ASP acts based on the following principles (Article 5) such as:

• Legality,
• Nondiscrimination,
• Respect of fundamental human rights,
• Proportionality,
• Operational autonomy,
• Political neutrality,
• Integrity, merits, and professionalism,
• Transparency,
• Protection of classified information,
• Control and accountability.

In line with the 2014 Law on the Adoption of the National Security Strategy in the Republic of Albania Also, the ASP plays an important role in the territorial control, safe border management and handling of civil emergencies.

Legal Framework

The activity of ASP is regulated by a package of legal and sub-regulatory acts adopted during 1998-2008. The fundamental law that regulates the organization and functioning of the police in Albania is the Law on State Police and the Strategy on Public Order 2015–2020 and Action Plan 2015–2017.

One of the novelties of the new Law on State Police is the establishment of the National Bureau of Investigation as a new body to fight against corruption (Article 27). The new structure will be considered part of the police although it will closely collaborate with the General Prosecutor’s Office as well. Nevertheless, this has raised many issues on the political level among the main political parties in Albania.

As postulated under the Article 17 on the State Police Law, police duties are:

• To protect people’s life, health, and personal property;
• To maintain public order and security
• To prevent, detect and investigate in compliance with Criminal Code and Criminal Procedure Code, the criminal offenses, and their perpetrators;
• To carry out awareness campaigns to prevent criminal acts, as well as increasing cooperation with the public;
• To coordinate its activity with relevant inspectorates in the area of construction, territorial and environmental control, to undertake administrative sanctions and others, according to their law;
• To identify, secure and treatment in police premises of detained or arrested persons until the upon court decision, as well as the convicted persons that hold a final court decision in absence until their transfer to the institutions for the execution of criminal decisions;
• To supervise and manage road traffic in the roads for public use and in compliance with traffic legislation;
• To supervise and control state borders of the Republic of Albania;
• To control the entrance and exit regime of foreigners, their stay, employment, and treatment in the Republic of Albania;
• To identify, protect and refer for assistance, to the relevant authorities, trafficking and domestic violence victims, especially juveniles and women;
• To administer and protect classified information, with the exception of cases when it is otherwise foreseen by the legislation;
  To protect high state domestic and foreign officials, as well as objects of particular importance;
• To handle, address and/or refer to the relevant structures, citizens’ complaints, especially the criminal reports or information on criminal offenses provided in various ways, as well as to perform other duties as stipulated in the law.

The above-mentioned duties are also part of the mandate of the Ministry of Interior as stipulated in the 2013 Decision on the Determination of the Areas of Responsibility of the Ministry of Interior.

Moreover, the priorities envisaged in the strategy of ASP for the period 2015-2020 are:

• The development and approximation of police organization standards to those of EU;
• Strengthening law enforcement to increase the level of security;
• Fight against organized crime and corruption;
• Integrated border management and migration; strengthening institutional and international cooperation.

Organization of the police

According to Article 19 of the Law on State Police, the police is a centralized institution and organized centrally represented by the State Police Directorate and locally represented by the Local Police Directorates.

The State Police Directorate is organized in a hierarchical structure composed of the general directorate, directorate, and department. The Directorate of State Police is the central administrative and technical structure of the ASP and it is located in Tirana. The Director of the State Police, who is appointed by the Council of Ministers at the recommendation of the Minister of Interior, is in charge of the Police Directorate.

The Local Police Directorate is organized in a hierarchical structure in the level of directorate, sector, commissariat, section, police station and police posts. This structure carries out operational and investigative activities at the local level, oversees and controls the performance of tasks as well as coordinates the activities of subordinate structures (Article 23).

The Border and Migration Directorate, that operates within the State Police structure, is organized at the central and local level, responsible for the supervision and control of state border and treatment of foreigners in the territory of the Republic of Albania, in compliance with the legislation in place (Police Regulation: Article 22).

Also, the State Police has been adapting its structures across the country based on the new administrative-territorial organization of Albania. Thus, the number of commissariats has increased from 36 to 50 and 15 new police stations have been established in remote areas.

In terms of personnel, currently, the Ministry of Interior employs about 14681 personnel (including police forces staff), which constitute 16.6 % of the total public administration employees. The Ministry of Interior is among the institutions that have the largest number of employees. The State Police managed a total of 10998 police officers or 1 police officer for 398 residents.

Internal control and external oversight

In order to ensure police accountability and integrity, there are internal and external mechanisms of control and oversight.

In terms of external control, the key institution is the Complaint and Internal Affairs Service under the Ministry of Interior. The basic mission of this institution is “to guarantee an accountable, democratic, and transparent police service to the community.” This body is also responsible for the establishment of an effective complaint system, which will encourage citizens to report on police misconduct.

Moreover, the Professional Standards Department (PSD) in the Police State Directorate plays an important role as an internal control mechanism in the police organization and investigation of the citizens’ complaints against police employees. When it comes to investigations, this department is supposed to work closely with the Complaint and Internal Affairs Service.

On the other hand, oversight is exercised by the Parliament, by independent institutions and the public.

The Parliament plays a specific role because it is the only institution that approves the budget and adopts laws that regulate the activity of the police. It also has the authority to oversee the enforcement and implementation of the laws. The Parliament must conduct regular hearing sessions with various stakeholders and exercise its institutional power to undertake measures that improve transparency and accountability of the police.

In addition, independent institutions, such as Ombudsman, Supreme State Audit, Commissioner for the Protection of Personal Data, etc., have an important role in investigating cases that relate to the abuse of the fundamental human rights.