The independent body that supervises the work of the police has resolved 444 complaints from citizens related to police conduct over the past few years, the Police Monitoring Commission's chairman Teo Giljevic reported on Monday.

Since the beginning of 2020, when the new nine-member commission began its work, a total of 444 citizens’ complaints have been resolved. Most of these are old cases from the period when the commission was not functioning. Some of the applicants have been waiting for a decision since 2013, Giljevic said at a press conference in Parliament House.

“We have solved 75 percent of the old cases and during this year we are about to solve the rest of the old cases and all the new cases,” he added.

Citizens complained the most about police conduct related to traffic (103 complaints) and criminal investigations (95), followed by violations of public order and peace (83) and treatment of citizens by the law enforcement authorities (35).

Most often, they complained that they were not allowed to submit a criminal complaint, witnesses were not examined, no investigation was conducted, no evidence was collected, and so on.

When it comes to disturbing public order and peace, citizens complained that the police did not respond to reports of excessive noise, did not record telephone conversations or conduct interviews with neighbours.

Citizens also complained about unfair treatment by police officers, that they were rude, and did not introduce themselves or show their badges, says Giljevic.

Almost 58 percent of complaints are unfounded

There were also comments on the use of coercive measures, inadequate conditions in custody, the procedure for identifying fans at sports competitions and the treatment of minors.

Of the complaints made, 58 or 13.1% were assessed as well-founded, 13.7% (61) as partially founded and almost 58% (257) as unfounded.

The commission is a third-level body, so citizens do not address it directly. Citizens can first complain about the work of the police to the police department, if they are not satisfied with the answer, the second level is a complaint to the Internal Control Service of the Ministry of the Interior, and then the case comes to the commission.

After the commission makes a decision, the police are obliged to review their actions and inform the citizen about the action taken, said Giljevic.

Of a total of 2,000 complaints about police conduct last year, 15 of them reached the commission, he added.