Fighting Organized Crime: High Figures on Paper, Few Tangible Results

Successful fight against interference of politics in the work of the police will lead to more tangible results in the fight against organized crime, it was highlighted at the panel on Chapter 24 of EU negotiations organized by the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy (BCSP) within the Seventh Plenary Session of the National Convention on the European Union (NCEU) on 10 June 2019 in Belgrade.

The European Commission's highest criticism in the area of ​​Chapter 24 was aimed at the fight against organized crime, and recommendations for improvement have been repeated for years, said BCSP Director Sonja Stojanovic Gajic, who moderated the panel as the coordinator of the Working Group of the NCEU for Chapter 24.

The lack of operational independence of the police, a small number of judgments after the arrests and insufficient capacity of the Internal Control Sector are key problems in the fight against organized crime within Chapter 24, Stojanovic Gajic said.

BCSP Researcher Bojan Elekpointed out that the problem of organized crime greatly affects the Serbian community in North Kosovo, during the session at which the President of the Republic of Serbia responded to civil society representatives’ questions.

Elek explained the key to the resolution of this problem is the depoliticisation of the police.

Assistant Minister of Interior and Head of the Sector for international cooperation, EU affairs and planning Zoran Lazarovresponded that the progress in the fight against organized crime and Chapter 24 is shown by the number of newly adopted measures, such as police cooperation in various fields and the harmonization of national strategic documents in the field of organized crime.

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The contrast between the results highlighted by the Ministry of Interior and data revealed by investigative journalists was underlined by KRIK journalist Milica Vojinovic.

She pointed out that for the problem of organized crime, which enters into all spheres of society, a systemic solution is needed instead of pompous police actions.

Lidija Komlen Nikolic of the Prosecutors Association of Serbiapointed to the problem of political influence within the prosecution, which contributes to a low number of sentences in organized crime cases.

There is a gap that needs to be overcome between the official statistics of the institutions and what the journalists and civil society organizations recognize as challenges, it was concluded at the panel.