Policing in multiethnic Serbia

Abstract

During the civil wars in former Yugoslavia very serious ethnic tensions arose in Serbia. In these circumstances a number of non‐Serb police officers, and managers, were excluded from the police, because of their national origin. After democratic changes in October 2000, the reform of the police was launched. The police are still not representative of the population of Serbia in terms of ethnic structure, although it was one of the reform goals. The most important findings of the research conducted in 2006 regarding relations of the police and certain ethnic minorities are described in the paper.

Keywords:

• multiethnicity
• policing
• democracy
• tolerance
• transition
• Serbia

Notes

1. Data without the province of Kosovo and Metohija, a region that is under the administration of the United Nations (UNMIK).

2. Total number of national minorities is 32. www.serbia.sr.gov.yu/pages/article.php2ld=37

3. During the Second World War in the region of former Yugoslavia, there was civil war between ethnical groups going on, parallel with fighting the occupants. After the war, which was at the same time the socialist revolution, new authorities insisted on national reconciliation.

4. In socialism there was no private policing.

5. Even singing some traditional songs, that might have some nationalistic connotations, in restaurants and other public places was punishable.

6. According to the survey conducted by Ranka Rajaković on the sample of 2000 policemen, more than 60% of them consider reputation of the police as high, while only 5% consider it as bad. This general positive attitude is manifested in close contacts, approving and accepting official measures, and helping the police when necessary (Rajaković, 1983, p. 7).

7. More than 300,000 killed and 4,400,000 displaced persons and economic loss of around 125 billion (Delić, 2004, p. 17).

8. Kosovo Liberation Army – paramilitary force of ethnic Albanians, fighting for independence from Serbia.

9. This was taken as a reason for NATO military intervention in FR Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) in March 1999.

10. Former Yugoslav republic that existed within the federal state with Serbia for more than 80 years.

11. Milošević was defeated in elections held in September 2000, and his attempt to falsify the results failed owing to massive civil resistance that culminated in demonstrations of over 600,000 people in Belgrade on 5 October 2000.

12. According to the findings of the public opinion survey commissioned by the Federal Ministry for National Minorities, 3.3% of respondents displayed an extreme distance to people from minority communities, 28% strong distance, 54.8% moderate distance, and only 10.3% of respondents expressed no distance at all. Over 70% of respondents in Central Serbia, Belgrade, and Vojvodina believed that one should be on one’s guard with Albanians, 50% said the same about Croats and Bosniaks, and 30% about Roma. It is particularly disturbing that people between the ages of 20 and 29 exhibit greater ethnic distance than those between the ages of 50 and 57.

13. Starting from only 29 female uniformed police officers, the MoI organized three basic police courses for female cadets which resulted in the increase of female uniformed police officers to 1110 by the end of 2003 (Bakić & Gajić, 2006).

14. In fact in Serbia there is only one police organization – Ministry of the Interior. All regional and local police organizations are part of the organizational structure of the MoI.

15. Owing to frequent inter‐ethnic incidents in Vojvodina, Doris Pak visited the province as a representative of the European Parliament’s Commission.

16. Members of the Hungarian minority in the city of Zrenjanin received information on the rejection of their applications for enrolling in the Secondary Police School or Police Academy after six months, and in some cases even after a year. They were provided no justification whatsoever.

17. In addition, the government wanted to avoid massive military (Yugoslav Army) presence in the area and to underline that this conflict was primarily an internal security matter. It was therefore decided in mid‐2001 to organize a standing paramilitary police unit – the Gendarmerie.

18. The assessment given by Mayor of Preševo Riza Halimi in 2005 suggests that ‘the project of multiethnic police, which contributed to significant inclusion of Albanians in the local police, was successfully completed. However, there were no subsequent projects that would provide for further adequate inclusion of Albanians in all state institutions, at all levels’ (Bakić & Gajić, 2006).

19. In the last elections in December 2006, the Serbian Radical Party, a party with strong nationalistic ideology, won 28.7% of votes, for example, 81 MPs of 250 in total.

20. Reform of the security sector is very limp, same as the cooperation with the Hague Tribunal, no law upon lustration was adopted, so a number of high‐ranking individuals from Milošević’s regime are still holding public functions etc.

21. Sixty‐six per cent of students would not share a room with a Croat, 70% with an Albanian, and over 50% with a Bošnjak – Survey of Student Population 2004; 38% of Serbian pupils are concerned that their identity is threatened owing to the influence of other nations, 28% of boys and 17% of girls think that it is unpatriotic to listen to foreign music (Jakšić, 2006).