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The Police Force of Slovenia Μεγέθυνση κειμένου Σμίκρυνση κειμένου Print E-mail

              

  

With a surface of 20.273 km2, Slovenia is found at the South East of Europe, neighbor of Italy, Austria, Hungary, Croatia and the Adriatic Sea. The country`s population amounts to two million inhabitants approximately. The country declared its independence from the Republics of the Former Yugoslavia on June 25, 1991. Although it was the most prosperous state, the war of Bosnia-Herzegovina brought about a serious economic crisis. The population is of Slavic descent (Catholic majority), although it has been highly influenced by Italy and Germany. Besides the Slovenian people (88%), there is also a minority of Croats, Serbs, Hungarians, Italians and Arabs in the country. Official language is Slovenian, which uses the Latin alphabet instead of the Cyrillic used by the other Slavic languages. The capital of the country is LJUBLJANA.

 

The Police Force is a Body belonging to the Ministry of Home Affairs and reports directly to the Minister of Home Affairs. The Police is organized in three levels: the National Level (General Division), the Regional Level (Regional Divisions) and the Local Level (Police Departments). The Chief of the Police Force is a political figure appointed by the Government.

Organization of the Slovenian Police Force.
 
At the central level lies the General Police Division, which - with the Chief being a political figure - does not have the typical police structure, whereas it is comprised by nine Central Services:
The Department of Uniform Police, the Department of Criminal Police, the Department of Security and Protection of the Citizens, the Department for Business and Transport, the Special Forces of Intervention, the Department of Common Services, the Department of Informatics and Telecommunications and the Department of Administrative Support.
At the regional level, the Police Force disposes of 11 regional divisions with the Regional Chief of Police as Head of Division. Finally, at the local level, the Police Force disposes of approximately 100 Police Departments.
The total number of staff rises up to 9.074 people, 7.526 of which are Police Agents (percentage of women 9.5%) and 1.580 Civil Servants (percentage of women 76%).
The average age of the employees in the Slovenian Police Force is 33 years.
In the year 2005, 1.180 candidates submitted an application to be recruited by the Police Force. Finally, 105 men and 90 women of them were recruited.
The budget of the Police Force for the same year exceeds 281 million euros; 77,1% shall be made available for salaries, 15% for materials and 5,6% for improving material and technical infrastructure.
The Police Force fleet comprises of 2.089 vehicles, whereas the operational weapons used by the Police Force are the Beretta and Glock.
Today the Police Force has assigned 33 police agents in peace keeping missions (Skopje, Timor, Kosovo, Bih and Afghanistan).
In the year 2003, the Immediate Response Unit (number 113) received more than 635.954 phone calls throughout the country, a volume increased by 14,2% compared to the previous year, while the average time of arrival at the incident scene was 15-20 minutes.
 
The history of the Police Force
 
The history of the Slovenian Police goes along with the changes that have been taking place in this country in the course of time.
On June 8th, 1849, the first Police Force of the independent state of Slovenia was born; the country was then a part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire with the Emperor Francisco Jose I being the founder of the Gendarmerie.
The prerequisites for being hired then were the following: more than 1,70 cm height, 24 to 36 years of age, single or widowed with no children, impeccable behavior and perfect oral and written knowledge of the spoken language.
The Gendarmerie Stations at that time had reached the number of 72.
In July 1850, the Emperor signed a second decree ordering for the creation of Police Services in all the capitals of the provinces and appointed as head of the police services the Minister of Interior in Vienna.
After the 2nd World War and the dissolution of the Empire, Slovenia was incorporated to Yugoslavia together with the infrastructure of the Gendarmerie.
The Gendarmerie was immediately subject to the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Belgrade Armed Forces, where in 1930 the Civil Guard of the National Police was restructured and reorganized.
During the 2nd World War, the Slovenian territory was divided into the German, Italian and Hungarian sector, where each territory applied its own Police Model.
In 1941, the Forces of National Protection are created with a total capacity of 15.000 Police Agents.
In 1946, the Militia is founded, a Body with police missions, that has gone through constant change until the year 1980 after the passing of 8 different bills of law.

Slovenia recently acquired its independence from the former Yugoslavia and this was when the Militia reorganizes its structure and acquires its current form.

 
Police Departments 
 
Police Departments have today the mission previously assigned to the former Gendarmerie and the Militia.
They are managed by a Head of Department, appointed directly by the Chief of the Police Force after the proposal of the Regional Head of Police. The Departments are divided into different groups according to their total capacity. If the Department has more than 25 Police Agents, then it is compulsory to appoint an Assistant Head of Department, whereas for this to apply for the Departments of the Border Police the members of staff must be more than 35.
 
Therefore we have four groups of Police Departments:
Group Α΄. Those disposing of more than 81 Police Agents.
Group B΄. Those disposing from 51 to 81 Police Agents.
Group C΄. Those disposing from 31 to 51 Police Agents.
Group D΄. Small Police Departments with a minimum of 21 up to 31 Police Agents.

The Departments of Road and Border Police are divided into the same groups with very little differences.
The article 28 of the Law settles the issues related to the Slovenian Police Force and has established the institution of the Office of Internal Affairs dealing with the legitimacy of the actions of the Police Force, the possibility of corruption together with the complaints of the citizens. 
In the year 2003, there were 1.309 protests on behalf of the citizens against the legitimacy in certain actions of the Police Force, an increased volume by 7.1% compared to the year 2002 (1.222), whereas there were 317 cases of police agent corruption to be investigated.
In the same year, the police dealt with 367 cases of physical violence on behalf of citizens against Police Agents, 34 of which by vehicles, 29 by use of dangerous objects, 6 by use of knives and 2 by use of firearms.

Development at the territorial level

The Slovenian Police Force disposes of 11 Regional Divisions at the territorial level, 52 Departments of Class A, 11 Departments of Road Police, 31 Departments of Border Police, 1 Department of Maritime Control (Port Authorities), 1 Department of Equestrian Police, 2 Departments with Trained Dogs, 1 Department for the Protection of Rail Lines and 1 Department in the Ljubljana International Airport.

Border Police Force  
 
In the year 1991, Slovenia has put in place a control system of the borders which extent to 1.382 km. Today the country disposes of 194 Border Check Points, 65 of which are international. In the year 2003, the Police Force improved a great deal the existing border control system, enhancing it by providing systematic patrolling of areas neighboring with other countries, resulting in the decrease of illegal immigration.

In the year 2003, Slovenia deported 52.837 people from its borders (nationals of Serbia-Montenegro, FYROM, Turkey etc), which means that efficiency has risen by 2.9% compared to the year 2002.


The citizens? entry percentages from the various check points in the country are allocated as follows: Italy 30.5%, Austria 22.3%, Hungary 4,8%, Brink Airport & Coper Port 0,4%, Croatia 42%.
 
Official transit through the borders of the country exceed 123 million of foreign visitors in the year 2003 compared to 122 million in the year 2002.

                                                 


Crime      

In the year 2003, international cooperation for the accession of Slovenia to the EU and the fight against terrorism together with the measures adopted at the South border of the country were the main factors which contributed decisively in the work of the Police Force.
Crime in the year 2003 did not increase compared to 2002. Indices remain at the same level whereas the real burden lies within the field of illegal immigration, homicide, crimes against property and robberies.
We have intensified our efforts in combating organized and financial crime. In the field of public order, violence has increased during sports events.
In the year 2003 76.643 cases were brought before the Public Prosecutor, 0.7% less than the previous year, whereas 35.014 suspects have been involved.
More than half the crimes in the entire country have occurred in the capital.

From all crimes committed, 40.4% were successfully investigated. 93.1% of this regards crime against honor, 28.2% regards crime against property, 14.5% regards burglaries and 7.8% vehicle thefts.