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The police in Serbia has come a long way since 2001 and new democratic foun-dations have been laid upon which the police can fulfil their duty to serve the country’s citizens. There have been four crucial changes.

The courts and public prosecution have two important functions within the security sector. The first is to combat crime by means of prosecution and punishment of criminal offenders. The second is judicial control over executive actors in the security sector.

In this paper we will present the assumptions underlying the research conducted by the Centre for Civil-Military Relations team within the "Mapping and Monitoring Security Sector Reform in Serbia" project.

Private security companies (PSCs) in Serbia have been active since the early 1990s. PSCs fall under the category of non-state actors authorised to use force. It is estimated that these companies today employ between 20 and 60 thousand people in Serbia.

The changes in the military over the past eight years were strongly influenced by the political turmoil in Serbia, the post-conflict and post-authoritarian context in which the armed forces developed, and the lingering union with Montenegro. As a result it is hardly surprising that the approach of the ruling elites to the reform of the armed forces was driven by everyday political needs and interests.

Prisons should be ‘safe places’; there should be no riots and escapes, and should not be a places to plan or commit criminal offences. The situation in Serbia, however, does not meet these requirements, as will be shown below.

Police corruption control and social consequences of corruption in the police in Serbia are two main topics of the seventh issue of Collection of Policy Papers on Police Reform in Serbia.

The latest issue of Collection of Policy Papers propose answers on building safe community in Serbia, the position of the police in the new Criminal Procedure Code, and the role of ethics in policing.

Professor Dr. Miroslav Hadžić, Dangraf and the Centre for Civil -Military Relations, Belgrade, 2004