Two centuries long history of the MoI

Not many countries can boast about having such a long history of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as our country can. In January 2011.,  MoI celebrates the two 200th  year since the formation of Serbian Council of Justice and the appointment of the first Serbian Minister of Internal Affairs.

Reminder

During the reign of Nemanjić Dynasty, in the 14th century, law enforcement authorities were, also, administrative bodies of  internal government. Anencephaly - the magistrate and the governor of the parish, was also in charge of public safety, especially road safety. He had, at his disposal, people dressed in black suits, who patrolled the roads and guarded travelers from bandits.

In Serbian, the word police appeared in the first half of 19th century when the establishing of the police service began.

The roots of public safety in renewed Serbia came up during the revolution 1804 -1813. Police powers in counties were entrusted to the dukes and men who were heads of several villages.

In 1807, a regular and constant police was established in Belgrade. It consisted of a head of city police,  heads of districts, assistant heads in charge of different sectors and uniformed cops.

At the General Meeting that was held in January 1811, the government was re-established, and the Council of Justice was divided into six ministries. The first appointed minister of Internal Affairs, was Jakov Nenadović.

In 1815, prince Miloš Obrenović  decided to organize  cops, general state police in charge of public work and security of customs roads. The renewed Serbian Council became the Supreme police body in 1825, and in 1827/1828, the appurtenances of the Council were transferred to the Great People’s Court, which established a title, an oppidan cop.

Based on Sretenjska Assembly on 15th February 1835, the Constitution project was made and it included the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Military Affairs. Based on the Turkish Constitution from 1838, the Ministry of Internal Affairs was officially established and it was confirmed that the minister takes over the prerogative of the Minister of Military Affairs.

After establishing administrative directorate of the town of Belgrade, in 1860, the management was under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the first unique uniformed and armed gendarmerie squad in the town  was formed. It consisted of 120 pedestrians and 15 horsemen.

By the law on establishing  the Central State Government from 22nd March 1862, the Ministry of Military Affairs was separated from the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

From 15th to 17th June 1862 Serbian gendarmerie played a crucial role in conflicts around Čukur-tap and the bombing of Belgrade. About 100 gendarmes confronted several hundred times stronger Turkish forces, and, practically, saved Belgrade and Serbia. As the first conflict took place on Pentecost, 15th June, this holiday was adopted as the holiday of the Serbian gendarmerie.

The gendarmerie was responsible only for public order and peace in Belgrade. Therefore the decision was made on the establishment of unique uniformed and armed general night guards - Security Authority in all towns in Serbia.

By the Decree in July 1880, in order of recognition in the service, gendarmes received a numbered bib note in the shape of Crescent moon - the first official badge with a number.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs was established on 7th December 1918, as the first supreme administrative and supervisory authority over all administrative - police directorates in the newly formed Kingdom of Serbs.
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Gendarmerie NCO (non-commissioned officers) school was formed on 1st February 1920 in Sremska Kamenica for the purpose of educating gendarmerie personnel.

The first police school, which was organized by Dr. Archibald Rice, opened in Belgrade on 8th February 1921.
By the law on internal administration from 1929, the Ministry of Internal Affairs was organized as the supreme authority of internal government. It was divided into: state protection department, public safety department, administrative and self - government department.
The Law on National militia was adopted in 1946.
Federal and Republic Secretaries were formed in 1953, for the Interior Affairs in 1946, and later that year the National militia got new official uniform.

By the basic Law on Internal Affairs from 1966, internal affairs were concentrated in the Public Security Service (militia, crime prevention, traffic safety and border affairs) and the State Security Service. The name of national militia was changed to - militia.

Guidelines on determining the identification number, issuing, recording and carrying official ID and official badges were issued in 1994. A year later, the Law on ranks of the MOI was passed. Regulation on the uniform and insignia of uniformed police passed in 1996.

By the Law on Amending the Law on Internal Affairs, on 26th December 1996, the word militia was replaced with the word police.

Author: Angelina Tepavčević,
Published in "Young police officer", no. 50
 

The second national seminar for PFTO coordinators

The second national seminar for police field training officers’ (PFTO)  coordinators was organized on 21st and 22nd  December 2010 at the BPTC in Sremska Kamenica in cooperation with Police Directorate and OSCE Mission in The Republic of Serbia.

The aim of the seminar was the improvement of practical and professional training. The seminar participants were PFTO coordinators who actively participated in the implementation of practical and professional training of 2nd generation of trainees at the BPTC. On the first day of the seminar, Ljutica Florić from the Department for PFTO training and organizing practical training for trainees at the BPTC, presented the participants a report on the monitoring of professional training of 2nd generation of police probationers, where the comparative results of training at the Centre, the final examination, professional training and professional examination were shown.

- There are  several recommendations and conclusions for the regional police directorates and BPTC drawn at this seminar I would like to single out - said Saša Antić, Head of the Department for PFTO training and organizing practical training of trainees at the Centre. - First, it is important to us that the curriculum for professional training of trainees, attending basic police training, as well as practical and professional training program, are well accepted.

Police stations, where well prepared PFTO coordinators worked at, were the ones that stood out for their good organization of work and dedicated PFTO and police probationers, which indicates the important role of the PFTO coordinators for the success of the entire program.

But, there are still elements that need to be improved. In the majority of PS, offices for PFTO coordinators are inadequately equipped. Immediate superior officers in police stations/police outposts do not have enough information about means, methodology, importance and objectives of practical and professional training.

PFTO and PFTO coordinators have to be police officers, selected according to given criteria, who successfully completed the courses for PFTO and PFTO coordinators.

It is necessary to comply with the letter of general police director, on the rewarding of PFTO and PFTO coordinators, and the Regulations on professional development and specialized training at the MoI. We believe that in the future it should be discussed upon how to achieve to evaluate work of a police officer after passing the vocational exam and how to unify standards for writing letters and standards for police actions/interventions  in all regional police directorates, according to the fact that our joint aim is to have police officers with the applicable level of knowledge. That knowledge should consist of professional attitudes and the ability to use skills, which guarantees a successful independent work, in accordance with established requirements.

Only woman

One of the conclusions of the seminar was pointing out the need to involve more women PFTO and PFTO coordinators in professional training program for police probationers, and, at this seminar, among 47 colleagues, there was only one woman.

- There are a few women among the PFTO. And at the Police Academy, I only had one female colleague, she was from Novi Pazar - we were told by Jelena Pavlovic, an officer for the organization, prevention and community policing. - My job is  nice and interesting. I cooperate with schools, the judiciary, the city administration of Pancevo and I work on professional development, as well. At the BPTC, I ran a training course for PFTO. There were 18 police officers from various police directorates, and no women. Although many of them were older than me, I think that everything went well and that we had a good communication.

- On the second day of the seminar, workshops in groups were organized. After that, representatives of the groups  presented proposals and suggestions in order to harmonize the methods of conducting practical and professional training of trainees at the Centre. Conclusions drawn this way are of great importance for Practical training guidelines for the trainees at the BPTC, the Professional Development Files 1 and 2, the method of certifying forms for evaluation of the trainees, standardization of writing letters, as an addition to Practical training reports (f. no. 2a), the method of conducting practical training on other lines of work (traffic activity, criminal and administrative operations and legal affairs, border affairs, foreigners, suppression of illegal migration and human trafficking), the method of conducting practical / professional training 1 on 1, problem situations in performing practical and professional training.

Seminar participants think that organization of experience exchange, like this one, should continue  focusing on joint work on improvement of the efficiency of practical and professional. training.

Photo : Juri Derevjančenko   
Text : Jasna Obradović
 

DCAF – Second time with us

Training for border police station commanders in Police High School – Basic Police Training Centre lasted from 30th May till 9th June 2010. It was organized by the Geneva Centre for Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF), experts from educational institutions and border police of Eastern European countries.

- An initial meeting of participants of the first International pilot training course for border police station commanders (ITCSC) was held here, in Sremska Kamenica, in March last year. The last sequel of the course, the fifth in a row, has recently been completed in Slovenia. Out of 31 participants of the course, the selected 20 are here now - we were told by Mr Dušan Burian, manager of the course. - Training of trainers in cooperation with the MoI of Serbia, was organized for the first time in your School - Centre, the plan is to continue cooperation. The next course should start in September with distance learning (e-learning), and continue, here, in October.

 

Representatives of the border police of six countries from the region, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, FYR Macedonia, Montenegro, Croatia and Serbia,
attended this international course. They will participate in the implementation of the following courses, as trainers.

We are the first generation of trainers - says m.a. Slaviša Igić, a former student of 15th class of Police High School, commander of border police station in Dimitrovgrad. - During the nine days’ training, our “teachers” - trainers, Ms Nada Banjac and Ms Gordana Milić, have enabled us to introduce new methods of conducting classes. This course, as well as the previous courses in this series, gives students the opportunity to try to prepare and conduct classes and gain confidence in performance in front of the audience. It is not only interesting, but is also useful for the job I do.

    

Author J.Obradović
Translation Stana Milenković
 

INTERNATIONAL TRAINING COURSE FOR STATION COMMANDERS, UNIQUE IN EUROPE

Initial meeting of participants of International training course for station commanders, which is held from 9th until M13th March 2009 in PHS-BPTC in Sremska Kamenica, is prepared in cooperation with Geneva Centre for Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF) and experts from educational institutions as well as borderguard police  of Southeastern European countries. The course is attended by 31 participants from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro, while lecturers are from Austria, Estonia and Slovenia.

- There is no course like this one in European Union – said  Mr Dušan Burian, the manager of the course, addressing to guests - in ,as he said , this legendary complex. - I remember sport games where students of this school used to achieve remarkable results. We gathered around this project which will, I hope, have the same renown. You are supposed to achieve new skills in practical management, not for the sake of your personal education but to transfer them further on. This is a pioneer work. Our aim will be achieved when I see you performing this course.

On behalf of MoI of the Republic of Serbia, Janoš Kopas, head of Directorate for Police education, Professional Development and Science and Dragan Gligorić head deputy of Border Police Directorate wished participants successful work.

- You will be the ones who will carry out conclusions of the Ministrers of Interior Conference of Eastern European countries, which has just finished in Belgrade, -  said  Biljana Puškar, director of the School/Center in her welcome speech to the participants of the course. – Our Minister of Police Mr Ivica Dačić pointed out the importance of cooperatiopn of  police in region for the internal safety of each country and the fight against organized crime.

This kind of training will contribute to the creation of strong network wich will catch members of transborder organized crime.

                                                                                                                                                                   Jasna Obradović