Police Directorate of Montenegro

The Police Directorate of Montenegro (Montenegrin Cyrillic: Полиција Црне Горе, Latin: Uprava Policje Crne Gore) is the national police of Montenegro.

Police Directorate of Montenegro Uprava Policije Crne Gore
Emblem of the Montenegro Police
Badge of the Montenegro Police
Common name	Policija Crne Gore
Agency overview
Formed	1994
Preceding agency	Milicija (Socialist Republic of Montenegro)
Employees	4,282
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdiction	Montenegro
Governing body	Government of Montenegro
General nature	Local civilian police
Operational structure
Headquarters	Podgorica, 22 Svetog Petra Cetinjskog Boulevard
Sworn members	4,077
Unsworn members	205
Minister responsible	Danilo Šaranović, Minister of Internal Affairs
Agency executive	Aleksandar Radović, Police Director (acting)
Facilities
Regional Police Units	8
Website
www.mup.gov.me/upravapolicije

Organization

Oversight

Between 2012 and 2019, the Police Directorate was part of the Ministry of Interior. Since 2019, the Police Directorate has been overseen by a number of mechanisms including the Minister of Internal Affairs, the Disciplinary Commission, the Board of Ethics, the Oversight Directorate, and the Internal Police Control Department.

National Units:

• General Jurisdiction Unit
• Criminal Investigations Unit
• Border Police Unit
• Protection of Facilities and Persons Unit
• Organised Crime and Corruption Unit
• Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Unit
• Special Police Unit

Officers and armored vehicle belonging to the Special Police Unit participating in a training exercise

Other organisational units at the level of Police Directorate:

• International Cooperation and Public Relations Department
• Department for Analytics and the Improvement of Policing
• Internal Audit Department
• Forensic Centre
• Telecommunications and Electronic Technology
• Information Security and Data Processing Centre (i.e. IT centre)
• Service for Human Resources, Personnel and Legal Affairs
• Service for Financial, General and Support Affairs

Territorial Policing

The Police Directorate is territorially organised through eight regional Security Centres, subdivided into 10 Security Departments (in mid-size municipalities) and four police stations (in smallest municipalities). Since 2008, community policing has been rolled out in Montenegro.

Officers of the Police Directorate

The eight regional Security Centres are:

• Bar (with outpost in Ulcinj)
• Berane (with outposts in Andrijevica, Gusinje, Petnjica, Plav and Rožaje)
• Bijelo Polje (with outpost in Mojkovac)
• Budva
• Nikšić (with outposts in Plužine and Šavnik)
• Herceg Novi (with outposts in Kotor and Tivat)
• Pljevlja (with outpost in Žabljak)
• Podgorica (with outposts in Cetinje, Danilovgrad, Kolašin and Tuzi)

Resources

Montenegro Police car

With one police officer per 141 inhabitants, Montenegro has the second highest number of police officers per capita in Europe, after Monaco.

Police Headquarters building is located on 22 Svetog Petra Cetinjskog Boulevard, Podgorica. It was erected in 2010 and has 9,360 m² (100,800 sq ft). The Police Academy is located in Danilovgrad, and provides both basic police education, and professional and specialized training. The Forensic Center is also located in Danilovgrad.

Montenegro's Civil Police Aviation Unit forms part of the Montenegro Government Aviation Unit, and purchased its first aircraft in 1972, with three more SA341 Gazelles transferred from the military air force in the 1990s. Aviation unit also operates two Augusta-Bell AB412. All helicopters are based at Golubovci Airport, Podgorica.

Police Directors

• Veselin Veljović (October 2005 – December 2011)
• Božidar Vuksanović (December 2011 – February 2013, acting director)
• Slavko Stojanović (February 2013 – March 2018)
• Vesko Damjanović (March 2018 – July 2018, acting director)
• Veselin Veljović (July 2018 – December 2020)
• Vesko Damjanović (December 2020 – February 2021, acting director)
• Zoran Brđanin (February 2021 – March 2023)
• Nikola Terzić (March 2023 – December 2023, acting director)
• Zoran Brđanin (December 2023 – March 2024)
• Aleksandar Radović (March 2024 – present, acting director)

Ranks

Officers

	Police Executive		Police Inspectors
Montenegro
	Direktor policije	Pomoćnik direktora policije	Glavni policijski inspektor	Viši policijski inspektor I klase	Viši policijski inspektor	Samostalni policijski inspektor	Policijski inspektor I klase	Policijski inspektor	Mlađi policijski inspektor
	Police Director	Deputy Police Director	Chief Police Inspector	Senior Police Inspector I class	Senior Police Inspector	Independent Police Inspector	Police Inspector I class	Police Inspector	Junior Police Inspector

Enlisted

	Police Sergeants			Police Officers
Montenegro
	Stariji policijski narednik I klase	Stariji policijski narednik	Policijski narednik	Stariji policajac I klase	Stariji policajac	Policajac
	Senior Police Sergeant I class	Senior Police Sergeant	Police Sergeant	Senior Police Officer I class	Senior Police Officer	Police Officer

Controversies

In June 2023, the anti-torture committee of the Council of Europe urged Montenegro to investigate police brutality. Europol published a report on 23 March 2022 that included photos of police officers torturing prisoners. The report cited various instances of alleged mistreatment of prisoners including falaka, genital torture, electrical shocks, asphyxiation as well as threats of rape and threats against the children and other family members of prisoners. In response, the Montenegrin Government has expressed willingness to follow the recommendations brought forward by the Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT).

See also

• Crime in Montenegro

External links

• Ministry of Interior
• Police Directorate
• OSCE Report Police Reform in Montenegro 2011-2019: An Assessment and Recommendations for Good Governance in Policing - by Novak Gajić
• OSCE Report Police Reform in Montenegro 2006-2011: Assessment and Recommendations - by Sonja Stojanović and Novak Gajić