In Montenegro, progress has been observed in the application of the Law on Free Access to Information, but the level of transparency of police work is not satisfactory. Declassified documents are not published, and there are no public debates and consultations regarding important regulations and enactments that essentially mold the police reform.

By Dina Bajramspahić (IA) / Photo:
@DinchyB

Recommendations

1. Improve the method of keeping the internal information in possession of Ministry of Interior/Police Directorate in electronic databases.
2. Improve the unclassification of documents in possession of Ministry of Interior/Police Directorate, through proactive disclosure of unclassified documents.
3. Improve the transparency of work of the Commission for the Periodic Review of Documents Marked “Confidential” by regularly publishing information on its meetings and work results on the Ministry of Interior website.
4. Amend the Regulation on the Costs of Access to Information, to stipulate lower costs.
5. Adopt the policy of compiling information and documents in electronic form at the level of Ministry of Interior and Police Directorate, in order to facilitate greater access to information.
6. Amend the Regulation on the Procedure and Manner of Conducting Public Hearings in a way that will eliminate the exception of security-related laws from being subjected to public debates, and prescribe the obligation to conduct debates on key strategic documents, action plans, etc.
7. In the case where there is no public hearing regarding a certain document, open up “electronic consultations” with stakeholders by extending a public invitation for the submission of comments and suggestions regarding the work of the working group.
8. Regularly publish information on the established working groups, lists of members of working groups, their tasks and deadlines for the completion of their work on the website of the Ministry of Interior.
9. Create formal accounts of the Ministry of Interior and the Police on social networks Facebook and Twitter; use them to publish news and announcements and to intensify direct communication with the citizens.

It is understandable that a significant part of police work must remain secret. However, greater transparency is a prerequisite for reducing opportunities for misuse of office; as one of the key anti-corruption principles, it serves as a basis for the participation of citizens and the civil society in monitoring the activities of the police and the results of their work.

In this opinion we will analyze the level of transparency of police work in Montenegro, the availability of information, and what the Ministry of Interior (MoI) and the Police Directorate (PD) are doing to improve their communication with the citizens – as all these being prerequisites for the improvement of public trust and confidence in police work.

Progress has been made in the implementation of the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance

The progress that has been made in the implementation of the Law on Free Access to Information (Table 1) is evident, as shown by the high number of authorized accesses to information. However, there is still room for improvement of internal data management structures of the MoI, and for a better method of keeping information in possession of the Ministry of Interior and the Police Directorate. This would primarily facilitate the work of the employee in charge of free access to information, who must obtain the required information from organizational units; it would, thus, also provide more efficient access to information. This is particularly important as it concerns state authorities with the highest number of public administration employees.[1]

In addition to the findings relating to the acting of MoI upon requests, concerning the application of the provision of the law which governs what the state authorities are required to disclose proactively,[5] research performed by the Center for Democratic Transition has shown that MoI discloses 83% of its information,[6] which ranks it as the fourth Ministry as regards proactive disclosure.

Access to information is made difficult by high cost per page when it comes to the MoI, whose information about the work and employees are typically more extensive than those of other authorities. Namely, the Government Regulation on the Costs of Procedure of Free Access to information[7] prescribes EUR 0.10 per one page of A4 format, whereas the cost of the same page in the Republic of Croatia is EUR 0.03 (KN 0.25).

Unclassified Information is not being published

When it comes to the unclassification procedure, that is, the removal of markings from information that had once been marked as classified, there has been no significant progress and there is no practice of proactive disclosure of documents from which the mark “classified” has been removed. There is also no information as to whether the Commission in charge of periodic review of secrecy of documents,[8] established in accordance with the statutory obligation, had removed any secrecy markings before the expiry of the statutory deadline. All this makes it difficult for interested parties to obtain information that no longer endangers the safety of citizens and the carrying out of proceedings but, nevertheless, provides insight into the quality of work of the police and the MoI.

Websites of the MoI and the Police are regularly updated

Websites of the MoI and the Police Directorate are regularly updated, and the annual report on the work is publicly available, as well as key strategic documents concerning the police. The website also offers detailed information on the internal mechanisms for accountability of police officers and the results of their implementation. Both the MoI and the Police Directorate have public relations employees who are in charge of day-to-day media inquiries.

Information provided on the work of the MoI and the Police Directorate in the course of a year has also been upgraded with the introduction, in October 2014, of a magazine on internal affairs titled “Document”, which is useful for both the professional and the general public. So far three issues have been published.[9] Neither the Moi nor the Police Directorate has official pages on social networks; this would intensify direct communication with the citizens, although some of the organizational units of the police do have them.[10]

Public hearings on regulations pertaining to security are avoided

In February this year the Ministry of Interior published a list of four Laws within its jurisdiction to be discussed at public hearings in the course of the year.[11] The problem with the Government Regulation on the Procedure and Manner of Conducting Public Hearings during the Preparation of Laws[12] is that it does not prescribe the obligation to also publish a list of other acts that will be discussed at public hearings – those that will be prepared and enacted during the year – so that stakeholders could plan their participation. This does not serve as encouragement to the authorities; concequently, the Moi does not organize, at its own initiative, any public debates or provide any other opportunities for suggestions concerning a number of important strategic documents-in-preparation that significantly regulate the work of the police, such as the Internal Reorganization Plan, Rules on internal Organization and Classification of Job Positions, the Staffing Plan, the Annual Work Plan, etc.

The Regulation also provides, without justification, an exception from having to organize debates concerning the laws that serve to regulate security issues – which is absolutely unacceptable given that the laws are public and that citizens need to conduct themselves in accordance with the provisions contained in them. This exception, among other things, was misused by MoI, which failed to organize a public debate on the Law on Amendments and Supplements to the Law on Internal Affairs in 2014.

Insufficiently transparent work of the MoI working groups

The work of numerous MoI working groups in charge of implementation of measures related to the police contained in a number of strategic documents, especially Chapter 23 and Chapter 24, is not sufficiently transparent. Information on the established working groups, their members, tasks and deadlines are not published on the MoI website. In the course of 2015, the MoI did not invite civil society organizations to participate in the work of these working bodies charged with the implementation of measures, nor were these organizations ever invited to submit written suggestions concerning the work of said bodies.

The worst example is the working group in charge of preparing the new Strategy and Action Plan for development and functioning of the police, which should provide guidelines for the most important reform projects related to the police up to the year 2020, which worked on these documents in 2015 without ever involving the interested public. This was remedied when, at the proposal of the Alternativa Institute, a public debate was organized on the draft versions of these documents.

Notes

[1] Additional information on the number of officers is available in chapter 3 of this Report, “Human Resources Management.”

[2] Report on the work of the Ministry of Interior and the Human Resources Directorate, overseen by MoI in 2013, published on 14 May 2014, available at:

http://www.mup.gov.me/biblioteka/izvjestaji?pagerIndex=2 (accessed on 26 October 2015)

[3] 2014 Report of the Ministry of Interior on the work and situation in the administrative fields, published on 29 July 2015, available at:

http://www.mup.gov.me/biblioteka/izvjestaji (accessed on 26 October 2015)

[4] Statistical data of the Ministry of Interior concerning free access to information for the first 6 months of 2015, published on 16 July 2015, available at: http://www.mup.gov.me/biblioteka/izvjestaji (accessed on  26 October 2015)

[5] The Law on Free Access to Information obliges institutions to publish the following on their websites: guides to free access to information, public registers, programs and work plans, work reports, strategic documents, regulations, a list of public officials and their monthly salaries, list of employees and their titles.

[6] Additional information is available at: http://www.cdtmn.org/index.php/2013-11-06-11-39-20/vlada-i-uprava-uredbe-zakoni-transparentnost/704-podaci-uprave-policije-na-sajtu-mup-a

[7] Pursuant to the Law on Free Access to Information, the applicant bears the costs of access to information, that is, the actual costs incurred by the authorities by having to copy, scan and submit the requested information.

Regulation is available at: http://www.sluzbenilist.me/PravniAktDetalji.aspx?tag=%7B44C63155-0643-4A44-89A4-AF7878F9C517%7D

[8] Obligation stipulated in the Data Secrecy Law, Article 19b
The Commission was established by Decision of the Minister dated 14 September 2015

[9] Available at: http://www.mup.gov.me/dokument/

[10] The Special Anti-Terrorist Unit of the Police Directorate and the Aero-Helicopter Unit of the MoI do have Facebook pages.

[11] The Law on Protection and Rescue, the Law on Public Gatherings, the Law on Non-Governmental Organizations, and the Law on Asylum

Available at: http://www.mup.gov.me/ministarstvo/Javne_rasprave/146092/Spisak-zakona-ciji-je-obradivac-MUP-za-koje-je-u-toku-ili-ce-se-organizovati-javna-rasprava-u-2015-godini.html

[12]Available at: http://www.sluzbenilist.me/PravniAktDetalji.aspx?tag=%7B16F45D1E-4AA0-4C69-A589-2C4432EC8F77%7D