Prime Minister Edi Rama today held an extended meeting with State Police high officials and officers at the Ministry of Interior, where the newly-appointed State Police chief and the Rama and the new directors of the Police Supervision Agency, and the National Inspectorate for the Protection of the Territory (IKMT).
In his remarks at the meeting, Prime Minister Rama stated that it is time to open up a new chapter towards modernization and transformation of the State Police.
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Hello everyone!
I haven’t forgotten the tragic event in Himara, where an innocent little girl died after being fatally hit by a speedboat on the beach. And with the huge wave of reactions over the newly-opened wound now receding, but also because we are here precisely at the Ministry of Interior at a moment of change at the State Police, I would like to share a reflection with the public and with you, the highest police and Ministry of Interior officials.
The grief and bereavement for such a young life being so savagely taken away by such an irresponsible violation of the rules has sincerely troubled me for days and nights long. Even when I wrote and now that I am reading these lines, I still feel strong sense of revolt about the fact that the offender, who became a murderer, was not an ordinary vacationer, but was a police officer, who normally, even when off-duty as a holidaymaker, should set and serve as an example of respect for law and order. It is this very fact, in my view, that made the tragedy, not only for the parents and family members of the little girl, but for every Albanian, not just painful, as it was anyway, regardless of who the perpetrator was, but also very revolting precisely because of him.
That tragedy is inconsolable, because nobody would be able to console parents of a perished child. However, one should state that at the height of their extreme pain, that ordinary family showed incredible self-restraint, appealing to everyone not to politicize the tragic event. I would like to humbly show the deepest of respect for them.
On the other hand, it was despicable how those most inconsolable of all showed up again as professional howlers, both in politics and the media, as if the unfortunate little girl departed just to feed with her angelic blood the devilish machine of hatred that never fails to roll.
I have also silently and respectfully congratulated those boys and girls, who came together and issued a call for a rally via the social media and took to a peaceful and civilized protest right here in front of the Ministry of Interior building, although the same sort of individuals again destroyed that protest.
Of course, I didn’t agree with their opinion that the little girl was killed by the state, but I share with them the pain for the tragic event and the revolt about some of the reasons for the incident in addition to the fatality.
I would like to ask a question, after having asked myself so frequently. Was a wicked and unscrupulous individual with his deadly speedboat the embodiment or the image of today’s State Police?
I definitely say, “No”. Neither he, nor other individuals currently being under investigation by the Police Supervision Agency that checks, arrests and hands them over to the justice system, are not the image of the State Police.
They are just the remains of a body that is being transformed, but where the wicked individuals might be still there, but who are being fought more than ever before, although certain wicked and unscrupulous individuals seem to have taken ground within the State Police ranks. Their wrongdoings should be stopped immediately through the power of law and military discipline. Removing such individuals from the State Police ranks is inseparable part of the continued strengthening of the police force and this is another new standard that was unimaginable just a few years ago, a standard that has been set precisely thanks to a new policy and approach towards the State Police, starting with the merit-based recruitment process to education that was restored to become a system following the absurd decision to shut down the Police Academy, as well as to the training and supervision of the police officers, their salaries and uniforms.
But, having said this, which essentially means that despite what is being said – and it would always unfortunately be said – never before in the history of the State Police has there been such a relation we have already established, a relation of respect, trust and a relation based on full political support for all the high-level State Police officials.
And it is good for everyone to know that even that unscrupulous man who killed the child in Himara, should not have been an officer in the State Police, not because of what he committed, but because the Police Supervision Agency had referred him to the prosecutor’s office to be prosecuted for violation of the law.
The court reinstated him and a prosecutor, who got what he deserved and was fired under the vetting process, not because of the case I am referring to, but because he was a disgrace as he had finally closed his case and acquitted him and had absolved him completely, reinstating him in the police force.
