THE ROLE OF CIVIL SOCIETY IN BUILDING POLICE INTEGRITY

Transparency in policing and dialogue between civil society and police forces is winning combination for building integrity. More than a half of the Western Balkans population believe that civil society organizations (CSOs) should participate in fighting corruption, actively or in cooperation with the state administration. Representatives of CSOs from the Western Balkans discussed main roles and impact of civil society in establishing the effective external oversight of the police.

Kosovar Centre for Security Studies and the POINTPULSE network organized a regional conference “The Role of Civil Society in Building Police Integrity” on 23 March 2017 in Pristina. This event being organized in the framework of the KCSS Integrity Program supported from the project Democratic Society Promotion (DSP) – financed by Swiss Cooperation Office in Kosovo (SCO-K) and managed by Kosovar Civil Society Foundation (KCSF).

Plator Avdiu from Kosovar Centre for Security Studies presented the new research on citizen’s perception of police in Kosovo.

„The very first moment to deal with the integrity of police officers is in the hiring process“, said Avdiu.

Cooperation between civil society and security institutions in Kosovo represents one of the most complex issues, this due to the fact that these institutions are still consolidating. As such, KCSS is actively working in compiling a guideline for integrity in the security sector. This document aims to identify the possibilities and fields where civil society can contribute in building integrity in the security sector.

Sanjin Hamidičević from Centre for Security Studies emphasized the complicity of the position of CSOs, where organizations have to be objective towards the security sector institutions, but at the same time create partnerships with public institutions.

Magdalena Lembovska from Analytica explained that the political turbulence in Macedonia is closely related to the crisis in the security sector.

„We also have a tendency of documents over classification. Public make huge efforts to receive information of public importance from the security sector“, said Lembovska.

Vladimir Erceg from Belgrade Centre for Security Policy described the impact of this organization to the recent adoption of Law on Police in Serbia and on public procurement in the security sector.

„The scope of parliamentary oversight was significantly improved and the potentially wasteful public procurements now can be easily found online. Both results raised from civil society initiatives“, said Erceg.

Dina Bajramspahić from Institute Alternative described how civil society was recognized as a source of knowledge.

„The negotiations on EU membership opened the door for civil society to join Government’s legislative working groups. This is how we can be direct actors of the change“, said Bajramspahić.

Besjana Kuci from Institute for Democracy and Mediation, emphasized the problem of police centralization and politicization.

„Our relation with the police has ups and downs, depending on how critical we are“, said Kuci.

Speakers from the CSOs in the region agreed on the importance of creating regional mechanisms in establishing the integrity of the police.

As necessary for the success they see a combination of transparency in police work and openness to proposals and knowledge from civil society.