General Police Directorate

General police directorate – competence

The police:

  • perform police duties as provided by law
  • uphold the rule of law in democratic society and are responsible for providing safety, in accordance with law
  • safeguard everybody’s rights and freedoms which may only be restricted under the conditions and in the manner provided by the Constitution and law
  • inform the public about their activities without disclosing confidential information
  • cooperate with territorial autonomy and local government bodies to safeguard people’s life and property, as well as with other bodies and institutions, organisations, minority and other organised groups, and self-organized individuals with a view to developing partnerships to prevent or detect offences and their perpetrators and achieving other security objectives
  • perform other activities in the field of internal affairs...

The police have a code of ethics, approved by Serbian Government.

Police functions are performed following the principles of professionalism, cooperation, legality, proportionality in using police powers, as well as the principle of subsidiarity and inflicting least detrimental consequences. In the performance of police functions only such means and measures of enforcement may be applied as are envisaged by law which help to produce the most professional results without undue harm or delay.

In the fulfilment of their duties the police observe national and international standards of police conduct, requirements laid down by law and other regulations and official documents of the Republic of Serbia, and ratified international treaties and conventions.

External control of the work of the police is carried out by the National Assembly, Government, competent judicial bodies, state administration bodies responsible for certain supervisory duties, and other bodies and structures authorised thereto by law. Internal control of the work of the police is carried out by the Sector for Internal Control of the Police.

The General Police Directorate of the Ministry of the Interior is responsible for performance of police duties. The General Police Directorate is led by the Police Director. Police work, competences and powers are regulated by the Law on Police (The Official Journal of the Republic of Serbia, no. 101/2005).

Within the territory of the Republic of Serbia, the General Police Directorate:

  1. monitors and analyzes the security situation, in particular the phenomena fostering crime;
  2. coordinates, directs and oversees the work of regional police directorates;
  3. directly performs specific complex tasks which are within the competence of regional police directorates;
  4. ensures implementation of international agreements on police cooperation and other relevant international instruments;
  5. organises and carries out forensic expertise;
  6. creates conditions for maintaining and raising police capability and preparedness to respond in emergencies;
  7. contributes to police-related security, educational, and scientific activities.

The General Police Directorate comprises organisational units within the MoI Headquarters, the City of Belgrade Police Directorate, regional police directorates and police stations.

Directorates and municipal police stations are established within the General Police Directorate Headquarters and the City of Belgrade Police Directorate, while departments, municipal police stations and police substations (field offices) are established within regional police directorates. The Government renders a decree concerning the principles of internal organisation of the Ministry on the basis of which regional police directorates and police stations are established, as well as their territorial jurisdiction and headquarters.

The tasks of a regional police directorate are:

  1. to directly carry out police and other duties and establish local cooperation on the territory of the municipality where it is headquartered;
  2. to monitor and analyze security situation within the territory of its jurisdiction; to coordinate and control the work of police stations; and to facilitate local cooperation;
  3. to carry out, as appropriate, the duties which are within the competence of police stations;
  4. to apply security measures regarding particular individuals and facilities;
  5. to perform other duties as provided by special regulations and other official documents.

Heads of regional police directorates are appointed and dismissed by the Minister.

The tasks of a police station are:

  1. to directly carry out police and other duties and establish local cooperation on the territory of the municipality for which it has been established. Police Director is authorised to appoint and dismiss station commanders.

The following is the chain of responsibility and command for the administration and work of police organisational units:

  1. heads of directorates within the General Police Directorate Headquarters, head of the City of Belgrade Police Directorate and heads of regional police directorates are responsible to Police Director;
  2. heads of directorates within the City of Belgrade Police Directorate and municipal police stations commanders are responsible to the Head of the City of Belgrade Police Directorate;
  3. heads of departments within regional directorates and commanders of municipal police stations and substations are responsible to the heads of their respective regional police directorates

Following the line management concept, organisational units within the MoI Headquarters are operationally linked with the counterpart organisational units within regional police directorates and police stations or perform the duties within their competence on the entire territory of the jurisdiction of the Ministry (e.g. Traffic Police Directorate within MoI Headquarters → Traffic Police Directorate within the City of Belgrade Police Directorate → police departments within regional police directorates, municipal police stations). Organisational units within the MoI Headquarters and regional police directorates are led by regional heads, while police stations and substations are led by their respective commanders.

Police functions are performed by:

  1. uniformed and plain-clothes officers who exercise police powers
  2. personnel having special or specific tasks which are directly related to police duties.

Police officers also perform tasks which pose a threat to their health and safety and which at the same time require great responsibility and special working conditions.

Special police units may be deployed for special security tasks only with prior approval of the Minister. A deployment proposal contains a plan and assessment.