Police Directorate of Montenegro


The Police Directorate of Montenegro is the national police force of Montenegro.
WWW mup.gov.me/upravapolicije...

Organization

Police Directorate of Montenegro is a law enforcement agency within Ministry of Interior, maintaining full operational independence in police matters, while Ministry is responsible for budgetary matters, administrative issues, human resources management and oversight roles.
Police Directorate is headed by the Director of Police Directorate, appointed by the Minister of Interior for a five-year term, based on the outcome of public application and selection process. Officers directly subordinate to the director are deputy directors, each heading a department with national jurisdiction; as well as heads of regional police units, responsible for local law enforcement duties within territorial jurisdiction of their Regional police unit.
Application process for director and deputy directors is open for public prosecutors, judges and officers of both military of Montenegro and National Security Agency of Montenegro, with specific stipulations regarding experience in management roles; while all other heads of internal subdivisions can only be appointed from senior police officer cadre.
Currently valid Bylaw on Organization and structure of the Ministry of Interior defines Police Directorate with five departments and four regional units:
Regional police units are
  • Regional police unit South
  • Regional police unit West
  • Regional police unit North
  • Regional police unit Center
Besides aforementioned operative subdivisions, Police directorate also has several support units - Forensics Center and units tasked with analytics, external coordination, administration of electronic / digital police assets etc.
Bylaw on Organization and structure of the Ministry of Interior envisions Police Directorate with 5,376 police officers. However, actual number of employed officers is considerably lower, with some departments being chronically understaffed.

Resources

With one police officer per 141 inhabitants, Montenegro has the second highest number of police officers per capita in Europe, after Monaco.
Police Headquarters building is located on 22 Svetog Petra Cetinjskog Boulevard, Podgorica. It was erected in 2010 and has. The Police Academy is located in Danilovgrad, and provides both basic police education, and professional and specialized training. The Forensic Center is also located in Danilovgrad.
Montenegro's Civil Police Aviation Unit forms part of the Montenegro Government Aviation Unit, and purchased its first aircraft in 1972, with three more SA341 Gazelles transferred from the military air force in the 1990s. Aviation unit also operates two Augusta-Bell AB412. All helicopters are based at Golubovci Airport, Podgorica.

Police directors

  • Veselin Veljović
  • Božidar Vuksanović
  • Slavko Stojanović
  • Vesko Damjanović
  • Veselin Veljović
  • Vesko Damjanović
  • Zoran Brđanin
  • Nikola Terzić
  • Zoran Brđanin
  • Aleksandar Radović
  • Zoran Brđanin
  • Lazar Šćepanović

History

Controversies

In June 2023, the anti-torture committee of the Council of Europe urged Montenegro to investigate police brutality. Europol published a report on 23 March 2022 that included photographs of policemen torturing prisoners.
The report cited various instances of alleged mistreatment of prisoners including falaka, genital torture, electrical shocks, asphyxiation as well as threats of rape and threats against the children and other family members of prisoners. In response, the Montenegrin government has expressed willingness to follow the recommendations brought forward by the Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.