By Alket Aliu
The Ministry of Interior has announced that it will vet all officers of the State Police, Republican Guard and Internal Affairs. The order has been signed by the head of this ministry, Fatmir Xhafaj and all is left to do now is to set up the structures that will carry out this process.
“The work group is led by the deputy minister of Interior and will be assisted by the EU assistance missions (Pameca V) and the US mission (ICITAP) and also by leading international experts”, the ministry announces.
Meanwhile, the work group is expected to analyze the current situation and draft a legal package until the end of the year.
So far, police officers have been vetted by Internal Affairs, but even this institution will undergo the vetting process now.
One of the Internal Affairs officials told Albanian Free Press on the phone that in principle, the vetting process may turn out to be an efficient process, because Internal Affairs has not vetted all police officers.
“There are also representatives of our sector who have managed to become part of this service thanks to their political ties. I think that this vetting process must be handled seriously, evaluating criteria of professionalism. This is the only way it will be efficient. On the other hand, the legal package may be good, but we must wait and see how it will be applied in practice”, the Internal Affairs official says.
A former senior police official, who recently worked as advisor to the former technocrat minister of Interior, doesn’t see this incentive positively. Aleks Hajdari says that he doesn’t believe that there will be a real vetting process. “They will not be able to do it properly, because they will unmask themselves. Perhaps, they may find a scapegoat”, Hajdari says.
Although he expresses his own personal opinion, Aleks Hajdar says that the process must not be prejudiced. “We need to wait and see how this issue will be handled”, he says.
There are very few political figures who offer their insights on this issue. Several MPs from the SP, DP and SMI, who were contacted by Albanian Free Press have avoided all comments by claiming that they have no sufficient information on the situation. Meanwhile, even the former minister of Interior doesn’t offer any insights on the subject of the vetting process.
The member of the Parliamentary Security Committee, Pjerin Ndreu says that so far, he has only come to hear about the idea, but he will speak once he sees the details of the legal package. “What I can say beforehand is that every incentive that aims at removing criminal elements from police ranks, is a positive one. As for the rest, let’s wait and see”, Ndreu says.
Meanwhile, democrat MP and former Interior minister, Flamur Noka says that this incentive is impossible. “The heads of police are incriminated in the cultivation and traffic of cannabis, when police doesn’t have the situation under control, when it is incompetent or involved in illicit activities and I believe that it’s the latter”. Noka MP launches a direct accusation against Edi Rama as the head of this criminal activity and says that although ministers may change, evil remains there.
Even the anti-narcotic operations launched by the minister of Interior, Fatmir Xhafaj before he was replaced by the technocrat minister, Dritan Demiraj, are seen by the democrat MP as propaganda. “Several cases are not enough to show a will in the fight against narcotics, because they are made for propaganda reasons. We need to see continuity in the fight against narcotics”, former minister Noka says.
One of the former police officers who has openly accused the former minister of Interior and his clan, Dritan Zagani, sees the vetting process as a new war within police. “The end result will be domination of the new clan over the old clan. This is a war on the control of revenues generated by drugs”. The former officer who was forced to leave Albania told Albanian Free Press last night that the clan governing today is leading a so called war against narcotics, while during the time that Sajmir Tahiri was minister of Interior, “the mob controlled police without hiding”.
According to Zagani, the vetting process within police ranks is a mere “change of tactics”.
“It’s very simple to make the difference between a corrupt police official and an honest one. We just need to seen the luxury cars that they or their family drives. We can also see what assets they possess. There are police officials who have been in office only when their political party has won”.
Zagani says that there are many police officials who use luxury cars and spend more than their monthly salary on their car. “What is there to investigate among these types? The state just needs to have the necessary will to apply the law”.
Gjergj Lezhja has been dealing with issues of policing and national security. He has been head of the Intelligent Services in Durres, deputy minister of Interior, General Secretary of the Council of Ministers and then advisor to the President of Republic on issues of national security. Lezhja says that there’s nothing bad with this process, while adding that the Vetting mechanism exists and that the necessary will to apply it is the only thing needed in this case.
“It’s a case of demagogy, because it’s the Internal Affairs that verifies the integrity of police officers. It is their functional task”, Lezhja says.
In essence, nobody seems to be against strengthening checks on police officers, but the debate seems to continue on the “political will” needed to remove police ranks from criminal elements and to carry out an “honest process”, as it’s rarely the case in Albania.
