Speech of Prime Minister Edi Rama in the presentation of the project on electronic cards for refuelling State Police vehicles:

The images of the State Police officers pushing vehicles blocked in the middle of the road due to lack of fuel are still vivid. These images are a mirror of a shameful and long history of theft of fuel vouchers.

We are here today to declare that we put an end to this despicable 20-year state practice, not only for the State Police but for all state institutions that use vehicles, and open every year holes in the budget due to massive and epidemic theft of money through abuse of fuel vouchers.

Today the State Police starts a process launched in January, with a test project for 150 vehicles, and later extended across its logistics in the period from April to June.

It is important to emphasize what I have repeatedly highlighted. Thanks to the leadership of the minister and of a team of people prone to unite technology and people in the State Police, the latter is a leading sector in this technological revolution, which we are trying to advance in every sector.

Here’s how the SP experience is today a basis for extending this technological transformation across all institutions, and have 8 million litres of fuel spared. This means savings approximately 9 million dollars per year, which used to be stolen through an epidemic theft spread throughout the country, with people exchanging vouchers while robbing the state.

Only in the period from April to June, the police saved 150 thousand dollars in fuel costs. The forecast for one year is half a million dollars from fuel savings only.

But it is not just a matter of saving. What is equally important is that the State Police will not be lacking fuel even for a second, as it happened for years. It was a real shame to see a police officer publicly discredited and ridiculed, pushing vehicles blocked in the road due to lack of fuel.

There was no lack of fuel, but it was theft, robbery of money for fuel and then, police and their vehicles were abandoned in the street, and instead of being used to serve people and to chase after criminals, they became objects of mockery.

9 million dollars saved is a lot of money, and we think this is due to fuel for the vehicles of state institutions.

Ensuring regular supply, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, without leaving room for abuse and additional demand for money because apparently the money for fuel has been spent, means a real revolution, as part of the radical transformation that we are bringing step by step through technology.

Every supply for a state vehicle will be recorded in real time, along with the exact supply location and details, and also the remaining litres still available.

Only by means of a technological card we can avoid perpetuating a shameful era of abuse and theft sealed by the state. This system is used by the American police and by a significant number of countries in the EU, not in all of them.

We are very proud that our State Police and institutions will be included in this system.

It’s useless to talk today about the history of the State Police in less than 3 years, because it is enough to recall the images of vehicles blocked in the streets, and the policemen pushing them. But it is always important to underline that, despite all the mud, despite the most monstrous accusations and the as ominous as vulgar aim to criminalize the State Police, this latter is today a sure success story. A sound success story, because everything that has been done is not enough for our job to be considered done, but it is more than enough for us to say that we are very clear on what remains to be done.

There is sure and tangible evidence of the fact that we know very well that we have been entrusted with this job by the citizens.

I am grateful to all the leaders of the State Police. People that finally have the opportunity to make their experience and their passion for work available to their uniform and to citizens, because they are not betrayed, abused and abandoned like orphans anymore under the vulgar pressure of policy interests connected to crime, or of crime connected to politics. They are free people, dignified professionals, responsible citizens who are taking the State Police to a stage where it has never been before. But I hope that they also are aware that what remains to be done is much more than we have done so far.

If we take the whole list of progress made and tangible results, we see things that were unimaginable until less than three years ago. If we showed it to people, they would take us for romantics, out of reality. On the other hand we are very aware that we need to continue our work intensively in order to increase the moral capacity of the State Police across the territory, to increase the capacity of communication of every officer of the State Police across the territory, so that every State Police officer from Tropoje to Konispol will make a good impression, just like the young women wearing the State Police uniform in downtown Tirana. So, people won’t need to come to downtown Tirana to see the new face of the State Police, but will see it everywhere there is a police officer wearing the uniform.

I don’t want to scare the men because I’m not proposing to have an abundance of women in the police forces, although I don’t think they would do any lesser than men. On the contrary. But by keeping a 30% minimum of women in the State Police, we will continue to consolidate their example. A fresh and tangible example of the transformation of the State Police in the relationship with citizens. An example to be conveyed to everybody.

The same, we have still a lot to do in terms of lowering age. We found the most exhausted, the oldest and most uneducated police in the region. We are not comparing it with that of Europe, for such a comparison cannot be made. We lowered age, increased the level of education, but this is also objective in terms of the years. The Academy of Security, which we reopened after a totally absurd period during which it was transformed from a serious police academy in a police course under the shade of the poplars, is doing an admirable job. But the Academy of Security has a lot to do as well, to have the standards of police academies in Europe.

I have received very positive impressions from the partners who have visited or cooperate with the Academy. At the same time, I am aware and I hope you are aware of all the large gaps created by the period of madness that put locks to the Academy as a high school to prepare police officers worthy and able to face the complex challenges of our times, and planted poplars in that territory, where it was enough to step in and then came out dressed as police officers. It is a gap that we must fill rapidly.

It is important that the fight against corruption and the fight for transparency and moral sustainability, inescapable in every cell of the State Police, continue within the State Police. Much has been made, but there is no question that only by clearing every cell from corruption within the State Police, we can transform morally not only the State Police but the entire relationship of society with the police and the law.

The force of example and not the example of force is our motto, and it should be the daily motto of the State Police.

The force of example of the young women wearing the uniform of the police, who do not scream, do not whistle, do not shake their arms up in the air and have every citizen stop at their feet, with any status, receive the fine almost happily and have no other way. We must see this as a great lesson, because the uniform has the power which can be weakened only by vulgarity and arrogance produced by the voice of a person in uniform.

Urging everyone not to forget Faik Konica, who in his book “Four tales from Zululandi” – which I suggest you donate to all employees of the State Police – describes how a wise man is ridiculed by rude leaders of a completely fictional government. This is the era which we are leaving behind, and in order to leave it behind we need every good example to stretch across the State Police corps, and any bad example to be an example not to be repeated by others.

We are in the right direction, and the State Police and its leaders are proving every day that they are very aware and ready to advance this historic transformation process. But far from us to be content with what we have achieved, and above all to agree with behaviour, acts and situations that do not comply with this new morality that we are building in the State Police. Incompatibility with the negative examples of the past, the incompatibility with any show of inertia of the past, the incompatibility at any moment with anyone who makes a mistake by continuing to behave the same as in the past, should be the norm of every minute in the work of Police State leaders.

Once again, many thanks to all of you, and respect for your exceptional work which is the most meaningful and most spectacular illustration of the expression “Let the dogs bark, the caravan will move forward.”

Many thanks!

Speech of Prime Minister Edi Rama in the presentation of the project on electronic cards for refuelling State Police vehicles:

 

The images of the State Police officers pushing vehicles blocked in the middle of the road due to lack of fuel are still vivid. These images are a mirror of a shameful and long history of theft of fuel vouchers.

We are here today to declare that we put an end to this despicable 20-year state practice, not only for the State Police but for all state institutions that use vehicles, and open every year holes in the budget due to massive and epidemic theft of money through abuse of fuel vouchers.

Today the State Police starts a process launched in January, with a test project for 150 vehicles, and later extended across its logistics in the period from April to June.

It is important to emphasize what I have repeatedly highlighted. Thanks to the leadership of the minister and of a team of people prone to unite technology and people in the State Police, the latter is a leading sector in this technological revolution, which we are trying to advance in every sector.

Here’s how the SP experience is today a basis for extending this technological transformation across all institutions, and have 8 million litres of fuel spared. This means savings approximately 9 million dollars per year, which used to be stolen through an epidemic theft spread throughout the country, with people exchanging vouchers while robbing the state.

Only in the period from April to June, the police saved 150 thousand dollars in fuel costs. The forecast for one year is half a million dollars from fuel savings only.

But it is not just a matter of saving. What is equally important is that the State Police will not be lacking fuel even for a second, as it happened for years. It was a real shame to see a police officer publicly discredited and ridiculed, pushing vehicles blocked in the road due to lack of fuel.

There was no lack of fuel, but it was theft, robbery of money for fuel and then, police and their vehicles were abandoned in the street, and instead of being used to serve people and to chase after criminals, they became objects of mockery.

9 million dollars saved is a lot of money, and we think this is due to fuel for the vehicles of state institutions.

Ensuring regular supply, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, without leaving room for abuse and additional demand for money because apparently the money for fuel has been spent, means a real revolution, as part of the radical transformation that we are bringing step by step through technology.

Every supply for a state vehicle will be recorded in real time, along with the exact supply location and details, and also the remaining litres still available.

Only by means of a technological card we can avoid perpetuating a shameful era of abuse and theft sealed by the state. This system is used by the American police and by a significant number of countries in the EU, not in all of them.

We are very proud that our State Police and institutions will be included in this system.

It’s useless to talk today about the history of the State Police in less than 3 years, because it is enough to recall the images of vehicles blocked in the streets, and the policemen pushing them. But it is always important to underline that, despite all the mud, despite the most monstrous accusations and the as ominous as vulgar aim to criminalize the State Police, this latter is today a sure success story. A sound success story, because everything that has been done is not enough for our job to be considered done, but it is more than enough for us to say that we are very clear on what remains to be done.

There is sure and tangible evidence of the fact that we know very well that we have been entrusted with this job by the citizens.

I am grateful to all the leaders of the State Police. People that finally have the opportunity to make their experience and their passion for work available to their uniform and to citizens, because they are not betrayed, abused and abandoned like orphans anymore under the vulgar pressure of policy interests connected to crime, or of crime connected to politics. They are free people, dignified professionals, responsible citizens who are taking the State Police to a stage where it has never been before. But I hope that they also are aware that what remains to be done is much more than we have done so far.

If we take the whole list of progress made and tangible results, we see things that were unimaginable until less than three years ago. If we showed it to people, they would take us for romantics, out of reality. On the other hand we are very aware that we need to continue our work intensively in order to increase the moral capacity of the State Police across the territory, to increase the capacity of communication of every officer of the State Police across the territory, so that every State Police officer from Tropoje to Konispol will make a good impression, just like the young women wearing the State Police uniform in downtown Tirana. So, people won’t need to come to downtown Tirana to see the new face of the State Police, but will see it everywhere there is a police officer wearing the uniform.

I don’t want to scare the men because I’m not proposing to have an abundance of women in the police forces, although I don’t think they would do any lesser than men. On the contrary. But by keeping a 30% minimum of women in the State Police, we will continue to consolidate their example. A fresh and tangible example of the transformation of the State Police in the relationship with citizens. An example to be conveyed to everybody.

The same, we have still a lot to do in terms of lowering age. We found the most exhausted, the oldest and most uneducated police in the region. We are not comparing it with that of Europe, for such a comparison cannot be made. We lowered age, increased the level of education, but this is also objective in terms of the years. The Academy of Security, which we reopened after a totally absurd period during which it was transformed from a serious police academy in a police course under the shade of the poplars, is doing an admirable job. But the Academy of Security has a lot to do as well, to have the standards of police academies in Europe.

I have received very positive impressions from the partners who have visited or cooperate with the Academy. At the same time, I am aware and I hope you are aware of all the large gaps created by the period of madness that put locks to the Academy as a high school to prepare police officers worthy and able to face the complex challenges of our times, and planted poplars in that territory, where it was enough to step in and then came out dressed as police officers. It is a gap that we must fill rapidly.

It is important that the fight against corruption and the fight for transparency and moral sustainability, inescapable in every cell of the State Police, continue within the State Police. Much has been made, but there is no question that only by clearing every cell from corruption within the State Police, we can transform morally not only the State Police but the entire relationship of society with the police and the law.

The force of example and not the example of force is our motto, and it should be the daily motto of the State Police.

The force of example of the young women wearing the uniform of the police, who do not scream, do not whistle, do not shake their arms up in the air and have every citizen stop at their feet, with any status, receive the fine almost happily and have no other way. We must see this as a great lesson, because the uniform has the power which can be weakened only by vulgarity and arrogance produced by the voice of a person in uniform.

Urging everyone not to forget Faik Konica, who in his book “Four tales from Zululandi” – which I suggest you donate to all employees of the State Police – describes how a wise man is ridiculed by rude leaders of a completely fictional government. This is the era which we are leaving behind, and in order to leave it behind we need every good example to stretch across the State Police corps, and any bad example to be an example not to be repeated by others.

We are in the right direction, and the State Police and its leaders are proving every day that they are very aware and ready to advance this historic transformation process. But far from us to be content with what we have achieved, and above all to agree with behaviour, acts and situations that do not comply with this new morality that we are building in the State Police. Incompatibility with the negative examples of the past, the incompatibility with any show of inertia of the past, the incompatibility at any moment with anyone who makes a mistake by continuing to behave the same as in the past, should be the norm of every minute in the work of Police State leaders.

Once again, many thanks to all of you, and respect for your exceptional work which is the most meaningful and most spectacular illustration of the expression “Let the dogs bark, the caravan will move forward.”

Many thanks!