State Police (Albania)

Albanian State Police Policia e Shtetit Shqiptar
Patch of the State Police
Agency overview
Formed	13 January, 1913
Preceding agency	*Gendarmerie (1925–1939) People's Police (1945–1991)
Employees	~ 10 958
Jurisdictional structure
National agency	Albania
Operations jurisdiction	Albania
Size	28,748 km2
Population	3,038,594
Governing body	Government of Albania
Constituting instrument	Law on "State Police"
General nature	Local civilian police
Operational structure
Headquarters	Bajram Curri Boulevard, Tirana
Minister responsible	Sander LLeshaj, Minister
Agency executive	Ardi Veliu
Website
Official website

The Albanian State Police (Template:Lang-sq) is the national police and law enforcement agency which operates throughout the Republic of Albania. The collapse of the Communist system and the establishment of political pluralism post-1991 brought important changes to the structure of the Albanian Police. The Ministry of Public Order and the General Directorate of Police were established in April 1991, and the new law of July 1991 established the Public Order Police. Nearly 80% of police manpower, i.e. personnel who had served under the previous system, were replaced by new recruits. On 4 November 1991, the Albanian Police was accepted as a member of Interpol. The emergency number is 129.

History

The original Albanian Police was founded on 13 January 1913 by the government of Ismail Qemali, Albania's first prime minister.

Building of the Albanian State Police Headquarters in Tiranë

The crisis of 1997

Main article: Albanian Rebellion of 1997

Following the collapse of the Albanian economy in January–February 1997 in the wake of the implosion of the Ponzi pyramid banking schemes promoted by the government, increasing insurgency in early March led to the Police and Republican Guard deserting en masse because it became clear they were unlikely to be paid, leaving their armouries unlocked, which were promptly looted by parties unknown, believed to mostly have been the local crime bodies and self-appointed militias: many of the weapons eventually surfaced in the ethnic fighting in Kosovo.

Riot police in 1997 in Albania

The resulting anarchy led a number of nations to use military forces to evacuate citizens, culminating in the UN authorising Operation Alba ("Daybreak"), a short-term military stabilisation force led by the Italian Army, tasked with facilitating the repatriation of foreigners and laying the foundations for another International Organisation to undertake the longer-term restabilisation. The political debate eventually settled in Europe within the body responsible for the defence diplomatic coordination of the Continent, the Council of the Western European Union. In a 2-hour meeting which convened at 1400 hrs on 2 May 1997, the WEU Council decided on the immediate establishment of the Multinational Advisory Police Element, sending a pathfinder officer, a Norwegian Police Colonel, the same evening. The Italian force in Operation Alba predicated the Command structure of MAPE passing into the Italian Carabinieri, General Pietro Pistolese, previously commanding the Genoa region, bringing his team with him. Four phases followed, assessment, reconstruction, support of the Albanian Police control during the Kosovo Crisis, and finally build-down and handback in early 2001, which was somewhat accelerated ahead of the transfer of the WEU's operational responsibilities to the Council of the EU on 30 June 2001. The reconstruction principally involved the reconstruction of the Judicial system and the training of Police, but the Finance section also accommodated economic specialists acting as the principal feedback into the correction of the Judicial system. The Command Team later formed the core of the European Union Border Assistance Mission Rafah from 2005 onwards.

Public Perception

According to a survey produced in 2009 for the United States Agency for International Development Albanian's perception of the police was as follows:

• On a scale of 0-100 with 0 being Very Honest and 100 being Very Corrupt, Policemen were given a score of 63.1 points
• When asked to what extent the police help to fight corruption, 0 being Not at All and 100 being Helps a Lot, the Police were given a score of 45.5
• When asked about trust in institutions, 0 being No Trust at All and 100 being Trust a Lot, the Police were given a score of 47.8
• When asked if during the previous year they had been asked for a bribe 7.8% said Yes
• "When asked how they were treated by the police, the proportion of respondents that replied "Poorly" or "Very poorly" was 26.6%, a decrease of 10.9 percentage points from 37.5% in 2005"

Given that this was within eight years of the departure of the MAPE rebuilding mission, great concern must be expressed about the capacity of the police force to maintain the legal norms required of an aspirant EU State.

Modernization

Police flag

In 2014, the Ministry of Internal Affairs started a modernization process of the Albanian police, to modernize its equipment and methods. The first step was the acquisition of new police vans and cruisers, the next one was the installment of body cameras on police officers to improve their service and to be analysed after an operation. Uniforms of the every uniformed department of the Albanian police were overhauled and the logo was also changed.

Several operations were held from the years 2014 to 2016, in various criminally active regions of Albania (i.e. Lazarat) to restore confidence and belief of the Albanian public to support the actions of police. Body cameras are becoming an integral part of the Albanian police, used on various drug busts and high-profile operations, released afterwards to the public.

Ranks

In 2015, the State Police underwent reorganizational reforms which were expected to continue for several years. It implemented a new hierarchical structure composed of nine hierarchic ranks.

	Rank insignia of the Albanian State Police
Service Uniform
Ceremonial Uniform
Rank:	Chief Director Drejtues Madhor	Senior Director Drejtues i Lartë	First Director Drejtues i Parë	Director Drejtues	Chief Commissioner Kryekomisar	Commissioner Komisar	Sub- commissioner Nënkomisar	Inspector Inspektor	Cadet Kursantë

Branch units

Patch	Branch unit
	Policia e Rendit The Order Police is tasked to deal with issues of public order.
	Policia Kufitare dhe Migracionit The Border Police is in charge of patrolling the border.
	Policia Rrugore The Road Police administers road safety.
	Forcat e Ndërhyrjes së Shpejtë The Rapid Intervention Force is the quick intervention unit dealing mostly with cases of violent riots, special operations, etc.
	Shqiponjat The Eagles are a rapid intervention unit that handles domestic criminal activities.
	RENEA The Department of Neutralization of Armed Elements is the main counter-terrorism and critical incident response unit.

Equipment

• Glock 34
• TT-33
• Beretta 92
• Beretta PX4 Storm
• Beretta ARX 160
• HS Produkt VHS
• Heckler & Koch MP5
• Heckler & Koch MP7
• AK-47
• Sako TRG M10

Directors

No.	Name	Term in office
1	Halim Gostivari	13 January 1913	24 May 1913
2	Feim Mezhgorani	24 May 1913	30 January 1914
3	Hil Mosi	1 February 1914	30 March 1914
4	Veli Vasjari	1 April 1914	30 June 1914
5	Sulejman Kërçiku	2 October 1914	27 January 1916
6	Halim Gostivari	28 August 1919	17 December 1920
7	Ahmet Sinani	17 December 1920	10 January 1922
8	Veli Vasjari	11 January 1922	22 April 1922
9	Halim Gostivari	22 April 1922	21 August 1922
10	Musa Çelepia	21 August 1922	26 December 1922
11	Hamza Isaraj	10 December 1924	25 December 1924
12	Qazim Bodinaku	24 February 1926	7 July 1926
13	Rrustem Ymeri	20 December 1926	1927
14	Hil Mosi	3 September 1928	1929
15	Zef Kadarja	31 August 1940	23 March 1942
16	Theodor Stamati	24 March 1942	26 November 1942
17	Shyqyri Borshi	26 November 1942	4 June 1943
18	Gjush Deda	4 June 1943	30 August 1943
19	Kolë Radovani	1 September 1943	13 October 1943
20	Skënder Selmanaj	15 October 1943	10 January 1944
21	Tahir Kolgjini	10 January 1944	24 November 1944
22	Namik Xhafa	24 November 1944	20 March 1947
23	Lako Polena	24 March 1947	2 February 1948
24	Sali Ormëni	16 February 1948	2 March 1951
25	Maqo Çomo	2 March 1951	March 1952
26	Delo Balili	March 1952	1 May 1956
27	Xhule Çiraku	1 May 1956	February 1968
28	Kasëm Kaso	February 1968	January 1980
29	Agron Tafa	January 1980	August 1982
30	Kasëm Kaso	August 1982	31 December 1984
31	Dilaver Bengasi	1 January 1987	17 July 1990
32	Fadil Cani	17 July 1990	1 May 1992
33	Astrit Mehaj	1 May 1992	22 June 1993
34	Sabri Jacaj	22 June 1993	15 June 1995
35	Agim Shehu	15 June 1995	30 June 1997
36	Sokol Baraj	3 July 1997	16 May 1998
37	Besnik Bregu	16 May 1998	4 September 1998
38	Hasan Ahmetaj	4 September 1998	9 November 1998
39	Veton Gjoliku	9 November 1998	20 January 1999
40	Veli Myftari	20 January 1999	22 November 2000
41	Bilbil Mema	23 November 2000	19 August 2002
42	Bajram Ibraj	12 September 2002	30 March 2007
43	Ahmet Prençi	30 March 2007	28 October 2009
44	Hysni Burgaj	28 October 2009	9 September 2013
45	Artan Didi	10 October 2013	31 March 2015
46	Haki Çako	15 April 2015	8 January 2018
47	Ardi Veliu	5 February 2018	Incumbent

Gallery

• 
  Cars used by ASP
• 
  Albanian Police Training
• 
  RENEA Special Forces Showcase in Tirana

See also

• Law enforcement in Albania
• General Directorate of Civil Emergencies
• Sigurimi