Month: February 2015

Professional, reliable and efficient police is of utmost importance for effective and comprehensive fight against corruption and organised crime, which also represents one of the key conditions to be met for further progress of Montenegro in its negotiations with the European Union in Chapter 23 on Judiciary and Fundamental Rights and in Chapter 24 on Justice, Freedom and Security. The Police Administration, as the largest part of Montenegro’s public administration staff-wise, with more than 5 300 employees, must pay special attention to the suppression of corruption within itself, in particular bearing in mind its competences when it comes to citizens and their constitutionally guaranteed rights. Besides the statements on widespread corruption in all social spheres, Montenegrin public discourse is often characterised by doubts on the existence of links between a certain number of police officials and organised crime groups, as a consequence of a lengthy transition process in Montenegro.

Although there are several levels of control of the work of police in Montenegro (parliamentary, civic, independent institutions’ control), in order to establish facts in complex cases such as the ones related to corruption or organised crime, a key role is played by the internal control of the police, inter alia, due to the fact that its officials have police powers, necessary for collecting evidence for such types of criminal offence.

The Action Plan for Chapter 23, adopted by the Government of Montenegro, identifies the need for a serious approach to this phenomenon, thus providing a set of measures related to strengthening of the internal control of the police. One of these measures is the ‘preparation of a functional analysis with an overview of the current state of play in the application of internal control mechanisms in the work of the police and other bodies.’ In that regard, the Ministry of Interior of Montenegro formed an interagency working group to work on the analysis and in line with the Decree on cooperation between the government and non-governmental organisations, it publicly called all interested NGOs to contribute to the work of the working group. That is how a representative of Institute Alternative (IA) became a member of this Working Group.

The research conducted by Institute Alternative in this area, as well as the preparation of this comparative analysis which aims at pointing out to the possibilities for enhancing the Montenegrin model of internal control through the study of three EU models, was supported by the OSCE Mission to Montenegro. The models selected for this analysis are almost entirely different and each of them has a special feature which distinguishes them in this area. Models were not chosen on the basis of similarities and differences vis-à-vis the Montenegrin model (number of inhabitants, number of police officials, judicial system, etc.); instead, the goal of the author was to ‘study’ the modus operandi of the internal control system in these countries at the level of principles.

By providing recommendations for enhancing the modus operandi of our internal control of the police, our goal is to contribute to the transformation of Montenegrin Police into a professional police service trusted and respected by its citizens.

This comparative study provides a detailed overview of control mechanisms (modus operandi) and instruments for efficient identification and prevention of abuse, as well as the analysis of challenges and possibilities for enhancing the modus operandi of the internal control of the police. On that basis and on the basis of the analysis of comparative cases (models from three EU member states), IA formulated its concrete recommendations for the reform of the Montenegrin model.

Montenegro has only formally set the boundary between professional functions and political appointments in state administration. Even though the room for political influence on senior management staff and heads of authorities has been reduced with the new Law on Civil Servants and State Employees, the legal framework is still plagued by inconsistencies and imprecise norms that have an adverse effect on the overall efforts towards professionalising the state administration.

According to the existing regulation, senior civil servants do not need to be experts or specialists in the areas they cover. On average, they are mostly required to have an undergraduate degree in social sciences and at least three years of working experience in managerial positions or positions requiring autonomy. The awareness of the need for their further professional development is low, which results in their very low participation in trainings offered by the Human Resources Management Authority.

The legal framework is ridden with shortcomings when it comes to regulating the status of senior civil servants, such as insufficient provisions relating to the conditions for their dismissal and the absence of the requirement of their work’s appraisal. Appraisal of the senior managers’ performance is superficial, and it neglects specific benchmarks existing for their performance appraisal. The rigid wage policy for state management staff leaves little room for flexibility and additional stimuli, a consequence of which is that relatively low salaries are being supplemented through additional remuneration for membership in various working bodies and state enterprises’ managing boards. The average monthly income of most senior civil servants is around EUR 1.000.

Another reason for concern is that the nominally professional nature of the senior civil service is in reality subject to direct political influence through informal practices. A considerable number of senior civil servants, at least 90 of them, are simultaneously members of organs of political parties currently in power, which indicates that Montenegro’s senior civil service is in a conflicting situation of being torn between political priorities of the ruling parties, on the one hand, and the reform priorities, on the other hand. Consequently, the need for further prevention of political influence on this level of state administration is all the greater. An adoption of a special framework of competencies for senior civil servants, which in effect would contain a list of all the necessary skills they must possess, would be a good starting point for further professionalisation of these positions. Legal amendments should also thwart this cadre from participating in managing or advisory bodies of all political parties, and should define very precisely their rights and obligations in cases of deciding to run in elections.