Prime Minister Edi Rama’s remarks during conferring ceremony of Medal of Gratitude to several State Police officers:
It is a great pleasure and privilege for me to stand before you today as we honour your colleagues, who became an excellent example of courage and integrity of the police we want.
A government may increase salaries, adopt laws and strategies to increase professionalism, improve material conditions and logistics, things we have already done and will continue to do so in the future, but at the end of the day, what does make the final difference in dealing with crime is the courage and the character of those who are fighting on the front line in this daily battle. We witnessed it most recently in a country like France. We see it every day here in Albania, in an array of actions and acts while carrying out duties by individuals and State Police units, who often carry out these acts and acts away from the public and media attention, but who continuously demonstrate that our investment to support and further boost the State Police’s striking force is right.
Expressing gratitude to all those in the State Police ranks who serve the public interest and, on this occasion, awarding the Prime Minister’s Medal of Gratitude to some of you is just a modest symbolic gesture, but, I believe, also essential one when it is all about not merely people in uniforms, but also family heads who are ready for self-denial acts, parents who are ready to sacrifice themselves and ordinary people who become extraordinary due to the fact that they serve in the State Police force and because they don’t hesitate to put their lives at risk to save the lives of compatriots, fellow citizens, protect their freedoms, rights and property.
Therefore, on behalf of the government, but also on behalf of many ordinary citizens, I would like to express today the deepest admiration and gratitude to five of your colleagues, who managed to fulfil their duty with honour, even though they were met by a hail of bullets fired by a bunch of robbers, turning the field of your activity into a life-or-death battlefield and making you the ones who hold out last hope and the ones who fortunately protected an elderly couple, namely Minella and Elsa Muçi. It was this police patrol that coincidentally about a month ago engaged in a high-speed chase that lead to the arrest of armed robbers who unfortunately took away the life of a citizen here in the city of Fier.
It is these heroes, the heroes of the State Police’s everyday work, the unsung heroes whose bravery is unknown, because they don’t appear on the TV screens, or newspapers’ front pages, but who every day fight an unequal battle against crime since it is crime and not the police that dictates time, place and the way of confrontation, and it is precisely the willingness and capability supported by the courage and determination of these heroes that determine the fate of this unequal battle.
The only thing a policeman, the police patrol, or the police force as a whole can decide in the area of crime – at a time when crime dictates, and the way crime is manifested – is the irreproachable character and conviction that justice, putting heart mind and efforts into the service of the Constitution and the law are, in fact, the instrument that constitutes the weapon of superiority of the State Police against any crime, any criminal organization, any attempt or criminal activity.
Today, it is exactly the character, their persuasion and determination of these five colleagues that prevented a tragedy at the house of the elderly couple and ensured life normally goes on. It is their merit only, as it is the merit of other State Police officers who by working around the clock ensure that the two elderly people and many others wake up safe every morning and overcome the horror that could have well turned into tragedy and then into a nightmare for their family.
Beyond the fact, as it unfortunately happens anytime the State Police accomplish a successful operation, or conduct a praiseworthy and commendable crackdown, certain big-mouthed media and the overall media frenzy waste no time in treating incidents with the State Police as the suspect. The truth is what comforts us all this time and every time and makes us feel proud of every achievement and result, being aware that the achievements and results of the State Police are not like of the others, since the police breakthrough and results are difficult and require daily sacrifices to be achieved.
That is why I am very pleased today that we are in the conditions as we award a Medal of Gratitude to some police officers, the extraordinary work and performance of the State Police set the backdrop of these achievements.
It would have certainly better should the armed robbers would have turned themselves in to the police so that one of the suspect’s life would have been spared, but, if the perpetrators refuse to put down weapons threaten the life of the citizens and the police officer, that was and remains the only response they can receive and the only answer they will deserve in any case.
The time when the citizens were randomly at the mercy of the criminals, when the robbers used to break in and walk out of the apartments and businesses of the citizens as if in a gateless in, is now for good over! Certainly there are and will continue to be robbers who will target the apartments, the citizens’ businesses, but there is also a State Police force increasingly ready to detect and put culprit behind the bars.
The time when police officers were abandoned in face of the organized crime, when police commissaries were systematically assassinated, the time when representatives of political parties rushed to the then Military House to pay tribute to the slain police officers, is also over for good, because police have finally broken away from treason, anarchy and uncertainty thanks to our determination, the political leadership of the Ministry of Interior to ensure full support of the politics, the government and whole state for the State Police.
It’s of course not an exaggeration if we look back and try figure out how far we have reached on our journey, whereas the objective of our path is widely known as we want the State Police to rank with dignity among the blue uniforms of the European Union within this term in office of the government. It is still an uphill road that will require great work, great patience and sacrifices, but we are convinced that not only are we on the right track, but that we will to achieve this great, historic objective for the State Police and for Albania, because it was not 500 years ago, but 4-5 years ago only when the police were required to pursue the sports cars of criminals with over 80 percent of the old police cars being out of work.
Picture galleries showing policemen pushing the police cars stuck on the road when cars ran out of fuel are not archival documents dating 100 years ago, but they come from a time we have lived in and is still fresh in our memories, just like it is very fresh the time when State Police employees patrolled roads and streets with bulletless guns, with poor-quality and ill-fitting uniforms and, above all, did a very difficult job after being the worst-paid police force in our region, let alone the Europe we are seeking to join in.
At that time too there were definitely extraordinary examples of dedication and heroism, but today we are in a situation of such conditions thanks to our common efforts and work, with the power of example of police officials and State Police officials with integrity being the main driving force of our commitment and support. Today we are in the conditions when the state apparatus fully supports the State Police to ensure the State Police needs to address daily challenges and activities are fully and best met.
The State Police reform is a process that process has not yet completed, it is an ongoing process, but it has already started to yield initial results and it will keep on producing more and more results through the force of facts and truth. These results are tangible for all those who want to see them, but we are also looking into the deficiencies that need to be addressed. If 2017 recorded the lowest murder rate in the history of over past 27 years, or more precisely over past 25 years since record and statistics-keeping started, but also the record number of criminal offenses uncovered by the State Police and this is no coincidence. The downward trend in homicide and murder rate and the growing trend in uncovering crimes has started for many years. The culmination of long and patient efforts in 2017 represents just a moment in this history and there are good reasons to believe that this year will mark further achievements and higher results.
Uncovering 85% of drug trafficking cases and ultimately removing Albania from the map of cannabis cultivating countries is not a not an accidental result and, above all, is not the result of just a successful year but provides the basis on which a new projection of the State Police work has been built and on which a new battle has begun, in terms of a new strategy of a new body, of a new operational force that bears a meaningful name “The Power of Law”.
The crime prevention effectiveness – on which the media are not talking about, because, for the sake of truth, nowhere they do so, but the figures speak for themselves – the State Police results have increased significantly in all areas where the State Police operate. The same goes for the reduction of offences against the person, or the reduction of the number of houses and business robberies. Police have sequestered more than 40 million euros in assets and criminal proceedings. It’s may be not a figure as to be thrilled with enthusiasm, but I believe the amount is 40 times higher compare to 1 million euros only seized in 2013, let alone 2012, 2011 and so on, when figures were much lower.
It is undisputable there is room for more, there is room for better and if today there is a force fully understanding that there is much room for more and better results, it is again this government and the leadership of the Minister of Interior, who has launched a process that has not been asked for by anyone, but that requires exactly the conviction that there is room for more and there is room for better: that is the State Police vetting, an exemplary process. Nothing new in the sense of the world we live in, but a new thing in our whole region, just like the justice system reform and the justice vetting which are also new in our entire region and about which countries in the region that are already negotiating EU membership are also now being asked to embark on.
The legal framework has been developed in record time also thanks to the experience gained during the drafting process of the law on vetting judges and prosecutors, albeit it is not the same thing. The law has been published on the official gazette and concrete work is about to begin in a matter of few days to vet some 300 senior State Police officials to separate wheat from chaff, while another process, which is an expression of our conviction, is set to begin in few weeks time. Nobody has asked us for, neither the internationals, nor the opposition and the citizens, but it is driven by our conviction that there is more room for improvement. This process will entail police chiefs in the country’s 12 districts who will face citizens in a series of public hearings as part of a very important aspect of the State Police reform which designed to strengthen role of police in the community and enhance relations between the public and State Police.
This is not an invention, but it is an unthinkable novelty for a thousand and one reasons as time is ripe to materialize it in our reality, with the public and the media being granted the opportunity, not just to listen the police officials providing figures or statistics, but also to face them on anything they want to ask for, or anything that concerns them and needs to be addressed by the relevant police directorates in each district, why not, even by the Ministry of Interior and the government officials themselves.
The community’s role in this crucial element of the State Police reform is seen as an active role with community being viewed as a collaborating force, meaning that the process will be a process of re-evaluation from the public and a process of reflection from the government, the Minister of Interior, the senior police officials on the success and results.
The new structure, which provides for a redistribution of the police on the ground, aims at bringing police closer to the community and the citizens, as well as advancing a process of moving the police out of office in order to co-ordinate the forces to fight not only the crime, but also offences that violate law and the public order, affect the citizens’ daily life.
There is no question this year will mark a new relationship in the police efforts to cope with organized crime, because it will definitely be the darkest year for the organized crime. The coming years will keep on becoming darker for the organized crime and all criminal elements involved in structured criminal activity. The “Power of Law” operation has just begun and in four months only it has yielded results, which although may not hint to the final success, they show exactly what we have been expecting for, show very promising results for the next steps.
It is of great importance to emphasize that few days ago, the State Police, in collaboration with the Prosecution Office, finalized an operation which unusual for its tradition. That was the Lezha operation, the second of its kind against after a previous crackdown on devious scam to appropriate coastal properties in the town of Kavaja.
It is very important for everyone to understand that a new approach has been adopted in this aspect and it aims to extend the State Police activity to where until most recently it seemed a free zone and give a deserved response to all powerful and rich people who abuse with office, the state property or with the property of rightful owners. We have taken a decision to block the registration of property deeds throughout the coast line, not to punish the real owners, but after 27 years to finally give the deserved response to high and middle-ranking officials, to gangs of all kinds, dressed in suits or shorts pants, who by resorting to all sorts of manoeuvres have managed to rob the state, loot state property and loot the citizen, private property by carrying out property registrations on the sand and green areas adjacent to the coast, which are absolutely crimes.
One of the most widespread elements of this criminal activity is the reclassifying of these territories as agricultural land and provision of some papers and acts on use of the agricultural land, making them the owners of sand, the owners of the sea, pine forests, swamps, or owners of any space where ownership never existed, or were owned by other people, and turning into a giant obstacle to the country’s economic and social development. I’m confident that the “Power of Law” operation, with the further increase of domestic and foreign capacities and the assistance of international experts who will continue to work as part of this operation, will provide a very well-deserved response in this aspect.
I do not want to go further, but I would like to go back to the reason we gathered here and conclude to where I started, because I am convinced that the strategies, laws, reforms, plans of measures and all the efforts we make are of special importance special, yet they do not decide the fate of our battle. This will be decided by the character of the State Police. And I am very proud to say that the State Police today is stronger in character, more determined in its convictions and ready to cope with any danger, because, beyond all what is said and which unfortunately, in a completely unfair way, morally and psychologically affect the State Police, the State Police employees, those who are there to serve the state, are sufficiently aware, sufficiently wise to understand that if the government, the Minister of Interior, thus we, the civil part of this effort, may make mistake, they are never intentional mistakes, are not mistakes driven by the need to benefit by violating the law, but are merely part of a process that involve hard work, intensive fight and where mistakes are unacceptable.
Everyone can make a mistake, but it is important that we are in a process whereby we will make a distinction among those who make mistakes while working and those who have been deliberately involved in wrongdoing to take advantage at the others expense and therefore staining the State Police uniform. The biggest, safest and most inspiring guarantee in this process are exactly those we honour today, five police officers.
Now, as the tradition has it on these occasions, to respect and protect the five colleagues’ identity, we will continue this ceremonial behind closed doors without the cameras rolling, and I would like to thank everyone for being here and congratulate you all for whatever we have so far succeeded in doing.
