OSCE Mission presents surveys before launch of community policing in Montenegro

PODGORICA, 10 June 2005 - Public perception of the crime rate and the role of the police were the focus of three surveys presented today by the OSCE Office in Podgorica and the Montenegrin Interior Ministry.

The findings of the surveys, commissioned by OSCE Mission to Serbia and Montenegro, will form part of the strategy for introducing community policing in Montenegro. They indicate a high public concern over the problem of drug use and drug dealers operating in their neighbourhoods and the inability of the police to tackle these issues.

Two surveys examined the public perception of the police and the third one looked at how the police officers perceive their own work.

"The police force has to become a modern service to the public, accountable and efficient," said the Head of the OSCE Office in Podgorica, Ambassador Paraschiva Badescu. "Our experience has shown that the strategy of community policing has a measurable positive impact."

In 2004, the Podgorica-based Center for Democracy and Human Rights (CEDEM) was commissioned by the OSCE to conduct two surveys on public perception of the police. Simultaneously, Barry Ryan from the University of Limerick, Ireland, conducted a survey of police officers' perceptions of that same relationship.

Assistant Interior Minister Mico Orlandic and the Head of the Uniformed Police Directorate Zivko Sipcic expressed their appreciation to the OSCE for initiating the surveys and said the gradual implementation of community policing in Montenegro is expected to start in the coming months.

Community policing has been identified as one of the priority areas for police reform in Serbia and Montenegro. The OSCE Mission to Serbia and Montenegro is implementing a range of projects in this field.