Speech delivered by Prime Minister Edi Rama during the ceremony of donation of 30 motorbikes and 20 cameras by a Turkish company to the State Police:
Were we to compare our State Police with another police force, it would be absolutely difficult to find a similar case not only in Europe, I am convinced, but in the rest of the world as well. For it is not only a matter of the poor conditions in which we found the building of Ministry of Interior, but it is a matter of the overall structure of our interior affairs, of our State Police.
46% of spaces and buildings are in poor or very poor conditions; more than 70% of patrol vehicles are in poor or very poor conditions; more than 82% of vehicles for police transport are in poor or very poor conditions. And this “poor” or “very poor” definition has been given by our international partners, namely by American partners. The Albanian corresponding definition would be “weary” or “very weary”. The majority of police vehicles, older than 15 years, are approaching the end of their lives. Thus, they are not just weary or very weary; they are beyond weariness. The communication and information system of police structures is more than outdated: we have policemen without police radios and a police system without computers.
These are some of the data I found in the last report of ICITAP, report that luckily we now have and which is a reference point for us to move forward with the transformation process. It is a very difficult process given the financial conditions of our country, but a very necessary one for our vital need to start a new era.
I am here today because phase 2 the transformation of State Police is starting. The first step of this phase will be innovation in police forces which will help us leave behind in a very short time many years of backwardness. In addition, we will achieve in a very short time unprecedented standards of safety in the relation between citizens and State Police Forces.
Today, it is not only a matter of 30 new, modern, fast, easy motorbikes that convey an increased sense of security to citizens, but it is also a matter of placing the foundation stone for a State Police provided with new technology.
Today, the first 20 cameras were installed in patrol cars to constantly monitor the relationship between policemen and citizens, between the state disguised in blue uniform and citizens who, thanks to this uniform, will feel safer every day. These 20 first cameras are only the starting point of a process that by means of a new technology can help a country, despite of its poor conditions, make giant steps. At other times this transformation process would have required many years to occur but today there is no doubt that any country, no matter how underdeveloped, thanks to a new technology can be equal in available resources to any other developed country.
(… to be continued)
