The Police Academy, Part One

Republic Square in Belgrade once again changed its name just before dawn, on Monday, July 5th: Liberty Square became Police Square. At 2.20 a.m. on that hot July night 270 policemen in full combat gear emerged silently from the darkness on the southern brims of the Square, along a stretch from the National Theater to the "Jadran" Cinema. There were almost as many citizens who in front of the cafe on the square called "At the Horse's" and in front of the "Bosko Buha" Theater, in front of the monument to Prince Mihajlo where the MP's of the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO) were on hunger strike. No one had noticed the reflection of street lights on the visors of helmets all around them until a metallic voice sounded from the megaphone and told the citizens to "disperse in three minutes' time." No one asked any questions nor waited for what would happen after the three minutes have expired: "the citizens" got up, finished their drinks and disappeared from the Square in a moment. The armored phalanx began to surround them in silence, and Liberty Square changed its name. It did not occur to anybody to ask what legal rights and reasons the police had to drive the people away from the main square in the city. The silence was most terrifying. Frankly speaking, they gave the impression of not being eager to talk. One policeman said later that they had had their protective vest and helmets on since that noon, that they had been brought from Kosovo and that they had not had a decent night's sleep for three days. Any conversation with such people is out of question (which their superiors had taken into account when keeping them in the July sun for a whole day until they went wild). The scene could have been cut out of the film "Z" by Costa Gavras, the genre is realism.

Considerable political and financial investments were necessary in order to create such a strong impression on the citizens, so that they do not linger upon hearing "Clear the area!" The main political stake, which is quite big and risky, perhaps, va banque as well, was thrown on the card-sharping table of the Serbian (and European) politics in the night between the 1st and 2nd of June: a group of demonstrators was first broken up by an unnecessary dose of brutality, and then, after two hours of heavy deliberations and consultations concerning the place from where to carry out a surprise attack on the SPO seat, Vuk and Danica Draskovic were duly beaten up. The message was sent to the political public in Serbia - we don't give a damn, we shall beat whoever we choose and as much as we want, we are in a position to do it...Following June 2nd the rules in the game of the Serbian policy were definitely changed, even declaratively: The President of Serbia Slobodan Milosevic stated that it was a matter of criminal justice and declined to comment on some unavoidable circumstances such as abuse the in the service. Therefore, the citizens were left with nothing else but to conclude: if this is how they treat the members of parliament and the heads of the biggest opposition party, how will they treat the common people? No one had a wish to check on that at dawn on Monday...

Everything is more difficult and complex when it comes to financial investments into this way of ruling over Serbia. The arithmetic is simple: how many armed and uniformed men are needed to keep unarmed civilians in obedience, considering the motives and interests of the former and the latter. The sum of about one hundred and six million six hundred and five thousand German Marks, according to an average black market exchange rate at the moment when this text was being written, was allotted to the Ministry of Interior Affairs in the current version of the budget of the Republic of Serbia. Four hundred eighty five and a half million German Marks was planned in the first version of the budget, according to the exchange rate at the time, but the whole budged, including that part as well, was consumed by the devaluation. The creators of the budget optimistically expect the figures will multiply only 117 times by the end of the year...

At a glance, it can be seen that the salaries of the policemen top the list of expenses of the Ministry of Interior Affairs: over sixty-five million DM. This would annually amount to 1,325 DM per one employee of the Interior Ministry, taking into account a confirmed information that there are 50,000 people permanently employed with the Ministry of Interior Affairs (during day-time New York City has 70,000 policemen on 12 million citizens) . If one wanted to make a real assessment of the usable political effectives, then a figure of at least 20,000 police reservists should be added. This figure represents a minimal assessment: it is well known that there was a 40,000-strong police reserve in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1990. Serbia, on the other hand, has at least twice as many citizens than B-H and the Kosovo issue has been smoldering since 1981. It's true that Bosnia-Herzegovina has always had the largest number of police reservists per capita, but it's also true that Serbia has tacitly and with no ado transferred the most competent people, such as former military policemen, border guards and paratroopers, from military reserves to the contingent of police reserves (which is why the conflicts with the army took place, as long as the army believed it was important). Therefore, there are reasons to believe that the figure of twenty thousand police reservists of the Serbian Ministry of Interior Affairs is twice as large. In any case, that number is a subject to administrative manipulation with the files of conscripts: all that has to be done is to move them from one drawer into the other.

Therefore, we have here almost one hundred thousand men and women, most of whom are professional and disciplined, well trained and equipped. Each of them is issued one fire-arm at least. In normal circumstances every policeman is issued a hand-gun and an M-70 automatic rifle as service arms. Police reserves have thus far been armed mostly with out-dated assault rifles and semi-automatic rifles. However, a greater part of these arms were used to arm the Serbs outside Serbia, and a substantial quantity of modern arms was pulled out along with the former Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), one can reckon that police reserves now have modern automatic weapons at their disposal. To this should be added the means of transport (ranging from squad cars to armored personnel carriers, buses and truck which are confiscated if there is a need for it,helicopters, etc.), telecommunications (a complex and comprehensive network, which covers the territory of Serbia with a network of radio-repeaters, special telephones and other modern means of communication) and a complete formation infrastructure centralized within a unitary system of the Serbian Ministry of Interior Affairs. The quality of these resources is not insignificant, on the contrary. Policeman is a professional, who, by rule, knows his beat well, is constantly in touch with it, he is used to violence and tied by a double bond of loyalty: towards his colleagues and the state. In terms of an information support, he is backed by big dossier systems, resources of the State Security Service with its intelligence and associate networks, technical and tactical means (tapping the phones, and buildings, etc.) and competencies in office.

Compared with the military, which is by definition focused on defense against the foreign enemy, the police is engaged in protecting the public law and order, life and property of the citizens, and the constitutional order. The army of the civil war was not formed out of the JNA, as it was proven. It is the police which is perfectly suited for a civil war army: that is what the Spanish Civil War from 1936 to 1939 taught us, where police forces had a key role, as well as the experience derived from the Balkan wars 1991-1993. The war started in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina with a division of police stations along the ethnic lines, the policemen were (and have remained) the main commanding officers in the field. This is understandable from the reasons listed above (the quality of people) and is clear to the authorities in the Balkans: in Slovenia, Croatia and in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (both states) the police structures are stronger in personnel, political and financial ( in FR Yugoslavia) terms that the strictly military structures.

This conspicuous difference between the real power of the police and military has not passed unnoticed in Serbia, some say that it has begun to bother General Stevanovic of the Air-force. It is too late for the Yugoslav Army to start to grumble: Milosevic's policy of destroying the JNA through decisions taken by the semi-Presidency and the amputation of B-H have been fruitful - the army has been definitely eliminated as a political competition. The Army is faced with a powerful and well-armed police force, supported by the state, whose support the army has lost. Besides, some senior officers of the Yugoslav Army have already complained that a policeman of the Serbian Ministry of Interior Affairs has a higher salary than an Air-Force commander (not including the bonuses for flying), while an inspector makes twice as much money than a general. One proper speech on television, where Milosevic would call on the military personnel to breach their obedience, and appeal on the reservist to report to the nearest police station, is enough for the Yugoslav Army to vanish. Not even to mention a possible help of the Serbs outside Serbia. The number of policemen who speak with distinct Bosnian, Slavonian, and Krajinian accents is on the rise.

The police will soon begin "reconciliating" its formal competencies with its real power. What supports this claim is the way Miodrag Tmusic, the District Public Prosecutor in Belgrade, started examining the terrain at the recently held session of public prosecutors in Budva. Tmusic promoted an idea that the police should have a larger role in the criminal proceedings. This resembles the former Soviet system where the Prosecutors' Office together with the police joined all previous steps, the inquest and the charges, thus eliminating the Examining Judge, as the first theoretically independent resort before the court trial.

An idea about a police academy, which would be on a graduate level, surfaced all in tune with the general trend. According to the law, which was represented by the Education Minister and the Police Minister, the Police Academy is a college (titles, Ph.D.'s, even honorary ones, etc.), but is not to be a part of the University, which means that strikes as well as political and union organizing are prohibited, while the students are appointed by the Police Minister himself. After graduation, one becomes a Second Lieutenant of the Police, which is the first sign of ranks returning into this service (ranks were replaced by titles in the mid sixties') or perhaps an indication of complete militarisation. It is said in the explanation that 79.4 per cent of all employees of the Serbian Ministry of the Interior have finished secondary school or a lower level of education, 13.3 per cent have come out of advanced schools (below the level of college), while 7.3 per cent have finished college. Most of these better educated policemen have finished either the Secondary School of the Interior Affairs (founded in 1967) or the Advanced School of the Interior Affairs in Zemun. In one interview Radmilo Bogdanovic, Former Minister of the Interior, complained as early as in November of 1990 about the limited capacities of these schools in comparison with the projected needs. "Only 170 new inspectors come out of school every year, while the real needs call for over 1,000 people," he said. Over one thousand policemen a year seemed to be a prophetic notion in November of 1990... As if Bogdanovic had known how many policemen we would need today. However, a question remains, whether the police academy will be able to turn out a thousand inspectors a year, even if it takes over the educational facilities of the Security Institute (as the rumors have it), which are by no means small. With the police which is already a para-army with its own academy that will turn out Second Lieutenants, who will become Majors, Colonels and Generals, and whose State Security has been silently working for years now (the results are visible), the police which can beat anybody, without being held accountable, the police from which people run for their lives at the first sight - would this regime need anything else? It is a political option, whose outlines are becoming clearer. The time is running out, the sanctions will soon bring Serbia down to the level of Enver Hoxha's Albania, so that one had better prepare his own Sigurimi (the Albanian secret police). If the opposition has something against it it should take heed of what a young policeman told a distressed woman in front of the Federal Parliament building on June 1st when she objected to him for not "being with the people": "You call this people? A couple of hundred of you! When a million people get together here I'll join you immediately. Until then, I'll win my bread on the side of the authorities."