Prime Minister Edi Rama’s remarks at inauguration ceremony of the new headquarters, training base and premises for the RENEA elite police unit that, after 30 years, are finally provided the same conditions like their European counterparts:
On 13th of January 1913, less than two months after the foundation of the Albanian state, the first institution of the independent Albania was established; the State Police.
“It is therefore necessary to have such officers disposed of and get the work of the gendarmerie and the police in honest and trained hands, to choose gendarmes and policemen with great care and of a tight rule!”
This message was conveyed by Ismail Qemali back then. It is an instruction that doesn’t have an expiration date, because being in honest and trained hands is the ABCs of every state police and the Albanian State Police.
Today, I am extremely pleased to be given the opportunity on this 107th anniversary of the State Police to tell all dedicated and outstanding boys and girls in the RENEA special police force that we finally redeemed our pledge and payed back a debt to them, by finally, after 30 years, making it available this training facility for their professional and moral wellbeing, while all those serving as part of RENEA elite unit for 30 consecutive years have set countless examples of dedication and admirable professional and moral standards that have never been adequately and properly rewarded.
RENEA unit have today new headquarters and training base that is in every respect similar to any standard with the elite police units in European countries.
It is perhaps the day to recall the fact that the RENEA special police unit was established by a special act on September 12, 1991 as a successor to the 326th Anti-Demonstration Battalion founded back in 1982 and at a time when the dictatorship had started downward spiral and its grip on power had slipped. The unit’s first task was to prosecute alleged anti-regime groups, while in the 1980s the special mission the 326th Battalion was tasked with was to prevent any potential anti-regime revolt against in stadiums.
Today we live in a completely different world, with completely different challenges, objectives and opportunities. And if today we have built modern headquarters for the RENEA forces, which, as I said, has nothing short in terms of conditions compared to similar structures in European countries, a decade ago only, a military detachment was housed here that in February-March ’97 prepared to attack the civilian population in the country’s south, along with the missile, tanks and artillery brigades.
And this has happened not 100, but just 20 years ago and if comparisons with the past are absolutely shocking, today is the time to match with the future and seize the opportunity, firmly relying on human, professional and moral capacities of the special police forces.
RENEA are a unit to take pride in and a role-model for everyone, showing that it is absolutely possible for us to establish professional standards in the whole State Police ranks similar to the European police standards.
Some time ago, a foreign police authority visited RENEA elite forces and, during meeting with him, he highly praised this unit. According to him, if RENEA police officers were to enjoy optimum conditions, which are now fully provided, just like their European peers, then they would deliver impressive results. And it is precisely the impressive results and accomplishments we expect to increase thanks to the RENEA forces, the special forces and the whole State Police members.
Last year was significant in terms of the State Police performance and accomplishments, although an extremely complicated year, in a way incomparable to any previous year in many aspects, during which, however, all the main indicators of crime rate and serious offenses declined. It is regrettable that in the artificially aggravated atmosphere in many ways and due to a jungle of information, a wrong perception of the crime rate in Albania is occasionally created, while the facts speak best for a continuous decline in the main crime indicators.
On the other hand, facts also show a significant improvement in the State Police performance in solving crimes and an increase in crime prevention and increased apprehension of criminals. We are aware that the fight against crime is a never-ending war and it simply assessed only through the forces ratio and facts and figures between the world and the crime. Over the past years, this ratio has been increasing the state’s force and reducing that of crime.
Las year alone, the number of dismantled crime gangs doubled compared with 2018, the amount of confiscated crime assets and proceeds multiplied to over 60 million euros in 2019 only, while rate of solving serious, or less serious crime offences significantly improved, the process of aligning standards with the European police forces continued and, for first time ever, the State Police’ doors were thrown open to the best performing students and the merit-based structure in the process of promoting police officers further strengthened. New anti-crime methods, including the cybercrime, were applied for first time and, as the 2018 Report shows, the security level and respect for human rights increased. And let’s not forget, thanks to the State Police, not only was peace and order guaranteed during the staggering 6 months of violent opposition protests, but the policemen showed in the eyes of all domestic public opinion and all those eyes outside of Albania the face of the State Police acting professionally and proportionally to the protest, despite all the extraordinary difficulty the State Police officers faced as a result of the endless provocations made by the demonstrators. The renovation of the fleet of vehicles and equipment of the State Police continued along with specialized departments such as RENEA.
It is absolutely undisputable that in every respect the State Police are today at their best day compared to the past, but it is also undisputable that compared to the future, the today’s not enough. We face a number of new challenges and, above all, 2020 has been has been defined as a key year to launch the most exemplary offensive against organized crime.
With the justice reform progress, a radical overhaul and clean-up is taking place in the palace of justice, but the time it would take to complete this cleaning-up process and make all new justice bodies fully operational is naturally not quite short and, in the meantime, in this transition phase between a system that is collapsing and new system that is rising, our society is facing a criminal organization within the justice system, a dangerous and literally criminal organization comprising judges and prosecutors who are clearly aware of inability of passing the vetting process and therefore have joined forces under the motto “catch what you can”, by constantly making scandalous rulings, not only in violation of the law but also in violation of national security.
To this end, we have initiated a legal package that is most recently being reviewed together with our irreplaceable partners, the United States of America and the European Union, and we will turn it into a legal basis in the coming days to launch the most exemplary offensive against organized crime, with State Police due to carry out never-before-seen aggressive actions on the ground against all those charged and convicted, but who have escaped justice thanks to the so-called ‘catch what you can” group and the time has come for them to prove that their wealth and assets do not derive from criminal proceeds, or otherwise give it up. In parallel, we will make it possible to have every “catch what you can” group members in the court and prosecution office with their backs up against the wall if issuing any ruling that violates the law.
I commenced my speech with Ismail Qemali and I would like to conclude it by quoting Ismail Qemali again, by saying that while the State Police carry out a process to get rid of, or, as Ismail Qemli used to say, have unworthy officers disposed of their ranks through the vetting process, which is going on cautiously, but with all the necessary determination.
To conclude, I would like to say that if we take pride in RENEA elite force today after having redeemed our debt by making this whole impressive and ultramodern facility available to them, we are now in debt with time and the State Police until we make available to students a Security Academy meeting same high standards, make available an equally modern facility to the Rapid Intervention Forces and make available to the State Police a forensic laboratory that meets the EU standards.
These are the three main objectives of today and the work to deliver on the three starts today.
The Security Academy will, in every aspect, become a model structure in the region. The Rapid Intervention Force headquarters and training facilities will also become a model, just like the police forensic lab, which is a must due to the need to sophisticate the State Police in the face of an increasingly sophisticated crime.
Crime is not the greatest enemy of the State Police, but the loneliness that arises from a lack of support from oppression, or a lack of attention to heed their needs. I am very pleased that with the government I lead from day one, this enemy has been annihilated.
We haven’t done as much as we have wished for the State Police, but we have done whatever we could.
We should yet meet all the State Police needs, but we have done that the State Police have less needs than in the past.
We haven’t done as much as we would have wished to reward the State Police forces, but we did everything and today the State Police are many times better paid than they were yesterday.
We haven’t also done as much as we would have wanted in terms of the conditions for the policemen, but I can firmly state that we have done whatever we could and we will continue doing so by maximally respecting the State Police authority and the police authorities, who for the first time in 30 years feel no longer under pressure from unlawful orders by top officials. For first time in past 30 years, the special police officers have not been betrayed during their operations.
We haven’t managed to do whatever we have wished to do for all RENEA boys and girls, but we have done whatever we could and we will do whatever we can in the years to come in order to make sure that all those on duty and serving in uniforms, together with their families, are properly rewarded by the state for their service and the good things they have done for the society and the entire nation.
Since it is the beginning of the year, I would like to avail myself this opportunity to extend wholeheartedly greetings to all families, all mothers of those in uniforms, fathers, husbands and wives and children, assuring them that my and our respect for the State Police members is unwavering and promising them that we will continually try to demonstrate this respect by doing our best so that those who see these state servants off every morning feel better and all the children of State Police officers have a better future.
Thank you very much everyone and respect for all those serving and have served in the State Police ranks over the years!
