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Kosovo Lies Beyond Your Self
by
Neeraj K Singh

Saturday night, 29th May. North Mitrovica. A Serbian KPS Officer, off duty, sits with his female companion in a cafe. Suddenly a group of 10-15 K-Serbians converge on the couple. The officer manages to draw his service weapon and fire a warning shot to ward off his attackers, but they soon overpower him. He is punched and kicked. Fortunately, two KFOR soldiers happen to come by and the attackers flee. The officer suffers serious physical injuries from the assault, but perhaps is more pained by the apathy of the onlookers who were mute collaborators in the offence.

The local Commentator : ‘The Serbs of Kosovo perceive those of their ethnicity who serve in the KPS as “collaborators” with an anti-Serb regime. Traitors to their cause who deserve nothing but contempt. The Serbs will never accept a local Kosovo authority. Multi-ethnic Kosovo is a lost cause.’

6th July in Prizren – UNMIK Police Officer is assaulted. 9th July in Urosevac – K-Albanian male threatens to kill UNMIK Police Officers issuing him a citation. 10th July in Srbica – unknown suspects fire shots from an automatic weapon targeting a KFOR outpost. 13th July in Cernica village, Gnjilane – KFOR soldier assaulted.

The local Commentator : ‘ We are a sovereign people. No foreigner comes here and tells us how to run our affairs. They failed in the 15th Century. They failed again in the 1990s. They cannot do it now. Vive la Kosovo.’

30th June, Vucitrn – K-Albanian man threatens an on duty KPS Officer with a pistol. 1st July – Kamenica; 3rd July – Orahovac … 16th July – Decani …threats, assaults, insults and abuse. All directed against KPS Officers. Almost all arising from simple policing initiatives such as a vehicle stop for minor traffic violations. 17 cases of aggression towards the KPS in just two weeks. 17 offenders arrested – all K-Albanians.

The local Commentator : ‘We the people of Kosovo are a proud lot, like the eagle of the high mountains. Each one of us lives by his own rules. Our personal honour (spelt e-g-o?) is above all else and we would kill for it. We are a free people.’

The Kosovo Police Service was created to eventually take over police primacy from the UNMIK Police. The process of devolution of police functions to the KPS is already under way. Expertise in the specialized policing activities of forensics, crime investigation and criminal intelligence is being developed in KPS officers. Many are performing independent patrol. Others are ready to undertake independent specialised responsibilities. The process to create a command structure within the KPS has commenced with the recent promotions to the ranks of Colonel and Sergeant. The KPS will eventually take over complete responsibility for policing in Kosovo. The KPS can provide the foundation of collective security upon which to build a future. But only if they, and the law they represent, are accepted by the communities they police.

As such, one would expect the people of Kosovo to hail the KPS as a cherished symbol of their collective identity. These young men and women in blue proclaim that collective identity more than any other entity in Kosovo today. They stand as a reassurance to the citizens that democratic governance is now the order of the day. One would expect that the presence of the KPS would generate a general respect for the rule of law. The hostility of some individuals to the fair enforcement of law is a cause for concern at this crucial stage of their development. It is important to understand the reason for such aggression towards authority and its implications for Kosovo in the long term.

A possible answer lies in the popular psyche – a psyche that is shared as much by members of the KPS who are, after all, drawn from the people. Through several generations of subjection to a vigorously authoritarian Serbian police structure, the people of Kosovo have come to perceive the police as a repressive arm of the state. Policemen are seen as enforcers of an alien law, while themselves being above the law. They are there to discipline a recalcitrant population, not to co-opt essentially law-abiding citizens to achieve their common goal of social order and security. The police have been synonymous with ‘power’ rather than ‘service’. The key word is ‘enforcement’, not ‘co-option’. Such a negative attitude towards the police pre-empts spontaneous cooperation of the people with the police. Even routine acts of law enforcement often provoke a negative reaction from the people.

The young recruits of the KPS have also grown up identifying the police with that authoritarian image. In their newfound profession, this could be reflected in their behaviour towards the public. It is onto this deep-rooted authoritarian police culture that the Kosovo Police School instructors and the Training Officers of UNMIK Police are now trying to graft modern values of democratic policing, and a new sense of service to the community. KPS recruits understandably may feel torn between traditional perceptions of policing and their initiation into a new police culture. This state of confusion may lead the KPS officers to evolve their own style in the field, which could be guided by those historical lessons of an authoritarian police so deeply etched in their memory. Hostility and violence towards the KPS, by the people they are attempting to serve, will only reinforce that memory.

Ultimately the KPS will evolve its own functional character, reflecting the prevailing social values and culture of Kosovo. In the final analysis, it is the society which is the progenitor of its own police system. A police artificially implanted from outside cannot endure and should not be pursued in the belief that the people will some day accept the value system propped up by the police. The law must be seen by the community as the consensus of their code of conduct. For this reason the public must learn to accept the authority of a legitimate, equitable police that applies that law.

Individuals must learn to accept personal responsibility and personal limits to their behaviour in the interest of common security. UNMIK Police is only a brief interlude in the long history of Kosovo, but an interlude that provides its people the opportunity to redefine their future. It would be in the interest of Kosovo to take advantage of this opportunity. The world has nothing to gain or lose from the outcome. UNMIK is refereeing a match in which both the contending teams are the people of Kosovo themselves. And time is running out for both sides.

We should not forget the state of affairs when UNMIK first arrived in Kosovo. The general devastation, anarchy and ethnic hatred that prevailed demanded intensive law enforcement. Yet there were no laws to enforce, no courts to try offenders, no local police to maintain order. From this complete vacuum, UNMIK has, in just two years, established a credible police system – a feat unparalleled in the history of the world. A professional local police force in the form of the Kosovo Police Service is being nurtured under the aegis of the United Nations. Elsewhere in the world, other war-ravaged societies have not been so lucky. There, the absence of a credible executive authority in the post-conflict situation has meant that people continue to suffer under self-styled local militias.

The people of Kosovo have been delivered a democratic and professional police service; it is yet to be seen what they make out of it. Most of the KPS officers are young, idealistic, and full of pride and hope for the future. But in the coming days these officers’ attitude and conduct will be shaped by the response they get from the public. Violence and disrespect will only discourage and harden them. As Derek Chappell, UNMIK Police spokesman very succinctly observed: “Kosovo will, ultimately, get the police it deserves.”