Abstract
During the 1990s, the Montenegrin police force continued to be the oppressive arm of the regime, as in communist times. The degree of participation of the Montenegrin police in the Yugoslav War was probably the least significant among the six Yugoslav republics, but the role it played is still unclear (Sevic and Bakrac claim that “in Montenegro, the police archives are still closed to the public, as it was often the practice in the socialist Yugoslavia for both police and army security structures” (Transforming police in Central and Eastern Europe: Process and progress, 2004)). When the security situation improved after the 2000 elections in Serbia, Montenegro was left with a military-style, inadequately trained, young, and oversized police force. According to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe study (Study on policing in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, 2001), police are characterized as large, predominantly male, overwhelmingly Serbian-Montenegrin, corrupt, politicized, inadequately trained, reactive, and young. The overarching political issue in this period has been that of Montenegro’s status—whether it will remain in the union with Serbia or become independent.
Today, the police service must be viewed in a wider context. It is crucial for the development of a stable democracy, the creation of an open market economy, and the establishment of political and social structures that will represent values and needs of the society. In that context, a number of important laws and codes have been adopted. These instruments aim to improve the police service in areas such as human rights protection, depoliticization, accountability and transparency, and adoption of modern policing standards.
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Notes
- 1.
As their mandates seem to be quite similar, and as resources are scarce for special equipment and training, gfuture. In other European police services, SAJ and PJP-type officers participate in regular police duties when not carrying out their specialized tasks. “For instance, the practice in some other countries is for such units to be operational in normal police duties half of the time while continuing their specialist training the remainder of their time” (Downes, 2004). This would both help save resources and promote career development, as officers would have an easier transition to regular duties once they reach the age limit for performing special operation tasks. This would also be important for further police demilitarization.
- 2.
The necessity for downsizing as part of police reform was outlined in the OSCE’s report, A Study on Policing in the Federal Republic in Yugoslavia, and in the European Commission’s Staff Working Paper from 2002.
- 3.
This ratio is relatively high in comparison to police services in the European Union and Serbia, where they have one officer per 250–350 citizens.
- 4.
During the 1990s, Italian mafia organization Sacra Corona Unita used Montenegro’s coast as a base for their smuggling activities and as a safe haven. Italian Interpol opened their office in the port city of Bar in 1999, which was instrumental for extraditing dozens of Mafiosi from the republic and cutting smuggling lines for tobacco and drugs.
- 5.
The assassination of Dusko Jovanovic, editor-in-chief of the daily Dan in 2004, and of Slavoljub Ščekić, Head of the CID’s Department for the Suppression of General Crime in 2005 brought the pervasive character of organized crime in Montenegro into sharper focus. Solving these two assassinations have been considered as an test of the police service and criminal justice system’s capacity to deal with serious and organized crime and crucial, as well, for regaining public confidence and support. International police co-operation and exchange of data was almost nonexistent between 1992 and 2001.
- 6.
Podgorica hosted the group stages for the European Basketball Championships together with Novi Sad, Belgrade, and Vršac.
- 7.
Some evidence for these conclusions comes from expert OSCE knowledge about Montenegro.
- 8.
Recommendations to improve this role of the media can be found in the chapter “Police-Media Relations” (OSCE Mission to Serbia and Montenegro, 2006).
- 9.
These fields were being used as the framework of analysis in the paper “Police reform in Montenegro 2001–2005” (OSCE Mission to Serbia and Montenegro, 2006).
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Keković, Z., Kentera, S. (2013). Montenegrin Police: Current Profile and Future Trends. In: Meško, G., Fields, C., Lobnikar, B., Sotlar, A. (eds) Handbook on Policing in Central and Eastern Europe. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6720-5_11
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