For more than five years, the promotion process in the Kosovo Police has been blocked. Although there are vacancies in key positions, they are currently filled by officers who do not have the required rank for that position.
This directly affects the implementation of hierarchy and command clarity within the institution, according to the former director of this institution, Reshat Maliqi.
"There are some colonel advisors who hold positions without being appointed, and previously they were regional directors or something similar. And now [they hold the position of] advisor and no one even cares whether they come to work, whether they work. They have no responsibility, and they don't advise anyone," Reshat Maliqi, who has just retired, tells Radio Free Europe.
The latest report by the National Audit Office (NAO) finds that 185 police officers have been assigned to positions for which they do not have the appropriate rank. A year ago, there were 39 of them.
However, the Kosovo Police insists that this situation has not affected the work of this institution, reports A2.
"These positions have been filled by officers with a lower rank, in accordance with the Administrative Instruction on employment relations in the KP," says the Kosovo Police media office.
This institution itself says that one of the main reasons for the lack of promotions was the security situation in northern Kosovo, inhabited by a Serb majority.
However, in a response to REL, the Kosovo Police says it is ready to resume the promotion process, but adds that “following the recommendation given by the Kosovo Police Inspectorate, we are awaiting the approval of the Administrative Instruction on the promotion procedure for police officers.”
However, this situation is not explained so simply by everyone. A member of the Kosovo Police, who asked to remain anonymous, says that the process is unfair and politically influenced.
"It was very unfair to me, because I competed for the rank of 'major' at the time. I don't know why I wasn't chosen, it seems to me that maybe someone didn't like me," he tells REL, indicating that he is currently in court over this issue.
He adds that the same thing has happened to some of his colleagues.
"Someone's rights are being violated, and someone is perhaps being promoted and doesn't deserve it," he says.
He says that the former director of the Kosovo Police, Reshat Maliqi, has also faced a similar situation.
"I was the holder of the position of director. But, when I was director, there was no one from politics, but even at that time they didn't like my attitude and for a short period they told me that I was no longer there. They fired me overnight," says Maliqi.
Another former Police Director, now a member of parliament for the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), Rashit Qalaj, is also critical of the delays in promotions.
“This situation brings us to the question of why [the competition] failed? Who requested it? Why was no one punished? This situation has never happened before. And I think this happened because of the influences exerted by the minister [acting Minister of Internal Affairs, Xhelal Sveçla],” he says.
The General Directorate of the Kosovo Police denies these claims, emphasizing that there is no question of any kind of political influence, but that the goal is for promotions to be carried out on the basis of merit and in accordance with operational needs.
The competition to which Qalaj alludes was opened at the beginning of last year for 355 vacancies for the rank of "sergeant".
However, this process was canceled, as according to a report by the Kosovo Police Inspectorate (IPK), omissions were made during the competition.
The PIK report found that the necessary background checks on candidates were not carried out to ensure that they met the criteria regarding disciplinary and criminal history.
Furthermore, the report also highlighted other inconsistencies with administrative instructions, such as allowing applications from members of the 54th generation who had not met the two-year tenure criterion in the rank of "senior police officer".
According to REL sources within the Kosovo Police, the greatest demand is precisely for the rank of sergeant, for which there are over 300 vacant positions.
The last time promotions were made was in 2020, when 131 lieutenants were appointed. The year before, in 2019, nine majors and 64 captains were promoted.
The Kosovo Police currently has over 10,000 active employees, including police officers and support personnel.
In August 2024, 448 cadets of the 60th generation completed their training and joined this institution./ REL (A2 Televizion)
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