Vučić Portrait in Criminal Police Offices Raises Alarm: Lawyers Speak of “Personality Cult” and Violation of the Police Law

Serbian Police Director Dragan Vasiljević visited the Criminal Police Directorate (UKP), specifically the Service for Combating Organized Crime (SBPOK) operating within it. The visit was organized to strengthen the capacities of units within the UKP, but public attention was drawn to something entirely different: in the large meeting hall hangs a large portrait of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić.

Vasiljević was received by UKP chief Marko Kričak, together with several senior police officers. They wore black uniforms, which is highly unusual, since UKP members — except for the Special Action Department — work in civilian clothing, while the Regulation on police officers’ uniforms does not recognize such a uniform appearance.

One of the basic principles of the police is depoliticization, required by the Police Law; political activity within the Interior Ministry constitutes a serious violation of official duty. The interlocutors of the newspaper Danas agree: the portrait of the head of state — or of any other politician, regardless of function — has no place in official police premises.

Lawyer and former police inspector Siniša Ćarević calls the placement of the portrait of the President of the Republic in UKP premises scandalous and a classic example of idolatry and the creation of a personality cult. “Never before has there been a portrait of any president in Interior Ministry premises. There is also no regulation obliging state bodies to place the portrait of the President of the Republic in their premises,” he says. He adds that Vučić at this moment is not only president but also officially the bearer of a political party’s list for the snap parliamentary elections of October 25 — which makes the display of his portrait even more problematic.

Marko Niković, former Belgrade police chief and lawyer, suspects the portrait was placed since Kričak has been at the helm of the UKP. “In the world it is practice, especially in criminal police premises, not to place photographs of presidents or politicians, because the rule applies that the police must always be depoliticized,” says Niković. Dušan Stanković, a PhD candidate in criminalistics and associate of the Belgrade Center for Security Policy, also emphasizes that the president is simultaneously a candidate in elections and that his profession is politics — which undermines the political neutrality of the police required by the Police Law and the Police Code of Ethics.

The Danas editorial office asked the police director and the UKP chief who and when placed the portrait of the head of state in official premises, but received no answer by the time of publication.

Source: Danas