Responsibility and Self-Will

After two fathers refused to accept medals for their sons who were killed in a purposeless war, a similar gesture was made by a policeman.  Municipal Police (GSUP) Captain of the Directorate, Slobodan Pajic found out through the newspapers last June that he had been awarded the Third Order Medal of the Knightly Sword.  One day prior to the ceremony which, as far as he can remember, was held sometimes around November 29 (Parliamentary President Dragan Tomic was the one conferring the medals), he received instruction on what uniform he should appear in.  He did not show up at the ceremony because, as he tells VREME, he did not feel that he earned the medal, for he did not fulfill the pledge he gave in police school back in Sremska Kamenica:
"The pledge given is practically identical to the one made when you go to the army.  Among other things, I pledged to protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country and that I will protect human lives and property.  Everyday there are Serbs, Gypsies and Albanians getting killed in Kosovo and Metohija just because they do not think the same way as their fellow citizens...  Under such conditions I cannot possibly accept a medal."

Since his superiors are unable to comprehend how a policeman can refuse to accept a medal from the hands of one of the greatest sons of this nation who managed to defend the sovereignty of the FRY and to defeat the greatest powers of this world, a procedure has been initiated to retire Policeman Pajic.  This 35-year-old has 21 years of pension terms or 16 years of benefits terms.  In order to become a pensioner, it is sufficient for him to have 20 years of pension terms and 10 years of benefits terms.  From the perspective of his superiors, the fact that he does not want to become a pensioner is his problem.

"BLACK SHEEP": "The first time I came up against a certain kind of discrimination was in 1992 when studying while working I managed to graduate from the Faculty of National Defense," Slobodan Pajic remembers.  "I automatically got a promotion to Assistant Commander of the Police Station for the Community of Palilula, but someone there did not look favorably upon this, so I worked for a certain time in a lower rank, as a Shift Chief.  Still I spent six months in Kosovo, at a detail I got assigned to.  In February of 1994, I became Unit Commander for the Police Brigade SUP of Belgrade.  Disappointed by the attitude officers took to their duties, I tried to do something, to contribute to a change in the situation.  I was responsible for 90 people and I saw that there were problems in organization.  For instance, there were no meetings with battalion and brigade commanders.  Second example: one of my officers complained to me that he was having family problems.  Burdened by work, I only managed to talk to him for about five minutes.  Later the man killed his wife and himself.  I immediately submitted a report, not only to my immediate superiors, but to higher officers.  I asked for regular meetings to be held, and for a psychologist to be assigned in order for similar tragedies to be avoided...  I was branded 'the black sheep.'  In 1997 I was transferred to the Municipal Police Directorate (GSUP).  The superior officer who gave me the assigment immediately told me: 'If you have any bright ideas, forget all about them.  That won't work here'."
Pajic says that he went to Kosovo voluntarily in July of 1998 when the armed insurgence flared there:
"I did not go there for a medal, nor for a promotion, nor for a raise, but out of patriotic feelings, because of the feeling that my place is there and because of the awareness that I have knowledge and experience which could prove useful in such situations (otherwise, when all is added up, I spent about two years in Kosovo).  Immediately I noted that the command of larger units is not being carried out properly and that it is better to act in smaller groups which are more ready to adapt quickly to the territory and to combat conditions.  I commanded one such group and the fact that we completed our assignments successfully only proved me right.  Still, I would note some examples which illustrate how little thought went into the demands of duty.  First I asked green masked uniforms for my men, because we were practically sitting ducks in our blue police uniforms.  I did not get them, but I saw later that some officers in the deep rear ranks were wearing them.  Then I asked for equipment suited to silent operations.  I did not get it, so we later improvised, using microphones taken from tape recorders."

SUSPENSION: Unnerved because of the uniforms and everything else, Pajic returned to Belgrade and turned to his friends for help.  As he says, people got together money and he purchased ten combat jackets from the Zrenjanin company "Mile Dragic", and in Ineks he purchased green, camouflage uniforms.  He immediately returned to the battlefield.

"During one action I got a field vehicle to use from a police general there," Slobodan Pajic says.  "During the withdrawal in October I found myself with my unit in a territory where a policeman was killed.  During the return I realized that everyone else had left two hours earlier.  We all got into that jeep and another vehicle and made our way back to Belgrade.  In order for the jeep not to stay outside, we left it with one of the lads who had a garage, since we knew that we will be coming back in one month.  Two days upon my return, the Deputy Chief of the Police at that time called me in.  I thought he wanted to talk to me about two of my men who were killed.  Instead of that, right off the bat he began: 'Pajic, I heard that there was a jeep in your hands down in Kosovo - let me tell you, I'm not interested.'  Unnerved because he did not even mention my killed colleagues, but only the vehicle, I told him that I parked the jeep, but that it was stolen during the night.  I got the same answer: 'I'm not interested.'  The next day they took a statement from me, and stubborn as I am, I repeated exactly what I told the Deputy Chief - that the vehicle had been stolen.  That was enough to suspend me without any further evidence.  Then I went to bring back the jeep, just to be refused by the same man who suspended me because of that jeep and who now did not want to sign for taking it back!"
The suspension lasted until the bombing began.

KOSOVO AND SICK LEAVE: "I wend to the Chief of Police on March 24 and asked to be sent to Kosovo," Pajic said.  "He promised me that I will get a statement within the hour about being reinstated to my job, under the condition that I go immediately.  I did not want anything else.  I was on a bus on the morning of March 25, but no one gave me a statement in the meantime about my reinstatement."

Pajic claims that during the war he commanded a tactical unit made up policemen who volunteered to serve in that unit.  However, there were no moral, political or physical preparations for any of it.  He says the he pointed to this problem a long time ago:
"In 1994 and 1995, I don't remember exactly, American, Hungarians and Albanians conducted a joint exercise in Albania.  The objective of their exercise was to follow through refugee acceptance.  As far as I know, exercises were also conducted in America in areas that are similar to Kosovo.  When I tried to explain to my superiors, both verbally and in writing, that it is necessary to prepare for an eventual war in Kosovo, I got the answer: 'Don't you worry about Kosovo - you better look into how many of your men are on sick leave.'  That is why it happened that a police brigade, a large unit organized as a nucleus in larger operations, fell apart and lost its integrity, while some of its commanders sat around in offices and unprepared soldiers got killed or lost their wits..."

Slobodan Pajic says that during the war he was reassigned several times to different units that were short of men and which needed help.  At the end of the war he headed the reassembled unit he commanded in 1998.  He claims that his men carried out missions that many better trained units avoided.  He claims that he did not see any crimes committed against Albanian civilians, that many of his colleagues got killed precisely because they refrained from acting against unarmed civilians, among whom there was always someone with a weapon...  He remained on the battlefield to the very end.  Two days after returning from Kosovo, he got a communique that he has once gain been punished (a reduction in salary by 20 percent) because of that jeep because of which he was suspended and which his colleague returned to Kosovo in the meantime.  Somehow he managed to explain everything - complaints, referring to the constitution and appropriate laws... - so that in the end he was not persecuted.

The war ended by the protests by the Alliance for Changes began.  Pajic was assigned to help out policemen who were brought in from the interior (he does not want to say from where) because of his familiarity with the city.  As a professional, he says that the harassment of protesters on the bridge in Brankova Street was completely senseless.
SELF-WILL: "No one thought about the consequences.  There were older people and children among the gathered protesters.  Had greater panic broken out, some of them might have jumped off the bridge in fear of getting battered.  Some might have been pressed by the crowd against the railings and have been trampled on...  When all of that was taking place, I was near Moskva Hotel.  An elderly lady passed by and cordially explained to the policemen that she lives in the building and wants to pass by.  She got the answer: 'Go from the other side of town.'  A little later, a youth with his hands in his pockets approached a cordon from the rear, walked around it and continued on his way.  However, one of the policemen beat him with a truncheon.  I asked this policeman why he did that and got the answer: 'Why did he have his hands in his pockets?  What do I know, he might throw a bomb.'  That is when I asked myself what drives young people, my colleagues, to behave that way?  Is it a matter of the consequences of propaganda, of a sense of power, or simply of the fact that given that unemployment in the country is very high, people join the police because they figure that it is an easy job: you listen to what you are told, you do not think about what it is you do or about its consequences, you get paid and you don't worry about a thing.  Such attitudes could eventually lead to civil war.  Everything I saw caused revolt in me so that next day, at the regular meeting in the Police Headquarters, I asked not to be sent out on assignment without a walky-talky and demanded not to be asked to fight with the Serbian people.  When I needed to fight, I fought.  It is not that I don't want to carry out orders, but I also want to use my head to consider the possible consequences."

Pajic also noted that the law regulating citizens' gatherings is not respected:
"The police did not adapt to this law.  A meeting is prohibited, but it is still held with silent acceptance.  One time, then another, and so on...  And then, without any criteria, this is stopped and the police get into a situation where they have to act without preparation and according to someone's self-will.  It seems to me that the police has been abused too many times."

Slobodan Pajic concluded with the statement that he is not interested in politics, but only in the professional carrying out of a job he is being paid for.  In general, in his interview for VREME, the one word he used the most was "professionalism."  He is presently on vacation and is awaiting a communique for retirement.  He says that he will appeal such a decision if it is brought.  Of course, assuming that there are legal grounds for an appeal.  If no such grounds appear and he is retired, he will instead ask to resign so that he can still come back to the police one day, when professionals become necessary - in order to do his job as it should be done.