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Slovenian National Police Force

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Slovenian National Police Force
Logo of the Slovenian Police
Logo of the Slovenian Police
Agency overview
Formed1991
Employees8 162 (2023)[1]
Annual budget€257 million
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdictionSlovenia
Size20,273 square kilometres (7,827 sq mi)
Population2,123,949 (2024)
General nature
Operational structure
HeadquartersGeneralna policijska uprava, Štefanova 2, 1501 Ljubljana
Sworn members7,347 (2022)
Civilians1,079 (2022)
Minister responsible
  • Boštjan Poklukar, Ministry of the Interior
Agency executive
  • Senad Jušić, Director general of the police
Facilities
Stations111
Website
www.policija.si/eng/

The Slovenian National Police Force is the national government agency that handles the responsibility of law enforcement of the Republic of Slovenia. It is composed of the eight police directorates in Celje, Koper, Kranj, Ljubljana, Maribor, Murska Sobota, Nova Gorica, and Novo Mesto.[2] Law enforcement in Slovenia is governed by the Slovenian Ministry of Internal Affairs. The police force maintains a number of international partnerships with foreign police forces, including training with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, and involvement in Albania and Kosovo with the Multinational Advisory Police Element.[2] The Slovenian police force was admitted to Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe on March 24, 1992.[3]

Organization

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The Slovenian National Police Force operates under the Slovenian Ministry of the Interior at three levels, local, general and regional, and is headquartered in Ljubljana.[3] Slovenia is divided into 8 police directorates which control 111 police stations, all of which come under the jurisdiction of the Director General of the Police.[3] In addition to this regular police force, Slovenia also employs the Specialna Enota Policije, utilised for Counter-Terrorism and other high-risk tasks that are too dangerous or too difficult for regular police units.

Staffing

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The Slovenian Police has suffered from chronic underfunding and under-staffing in recent years, due to the public sector's Intervention Measures Act of 2010/11 and the Fiscal Balance Act of 2012.[4] Consequently, a department-wide emergency hiring-freeze was implemented. With combined retirements and unscheduled quittings of many officers due to low salaries, poor benefits and working conditions, the police force lost over 1,000 officers with no replacements being made between the years 2010 and 2015. The hiring freeze was lifted in early January 2015.

Since January 2015, the Slovenian Police had started an increasing recruiting effort with over 300 new officers being hired throughout 2015 along with new applications for 600 reserve, 156 regular and 150 border-patrol police officers being processed as of February 2016.

Due to deteriorating working conditions, the majority of the operational police force went on limited-strike in mid-November 2015. The strike included officers refusing to issue traffic citations for the majority of all offences and decreased response-times on non-emergency calls. After 6 months, the strike officially ended on June 2, 2016, with both of the police unions and the Slovenian Ministry of Internal Affairs reaching an agreement on raising police salaries and certain benefits. Over 5300 officers are now eligible to receive an average raise of €720 (IAT) to their total annual salaries as well as the new post-academy salary going from €8,280 to €9,060 (IAT).[5]

In January 2021, the Ministry of the Interior, led by Aleš Hojs, disclosed salary information with the specification of names and surnames, workposts, and gross salaries received in December 2020 for all the employees of the Slovenian Police. The event was a response to the start of a police strike and was followed by a massive public outcry. The ministry was reproached for violating the privacy of the employees and the Rules on the protection of police information and for the endangerment of police procedures, public safety, and safety of the affected employees. The Information Commissioner, Mojca Prelesnik, considered that the disclosure had been in line with the GDPR and the Slovenian information privacy law since the information related to public sector employees, so she did not opt to start an inspection. The Prime Minister, Janez Janša, promised to withdraw police employees from the payment system of public sector employees.[6][7]

Work environment and pay

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Police officers at a 2013 protest in Ljubljana

Slovenian Police officers have an extremely diverse work week schedules depending on their job assignments which include four-day 10-hour weeks or constant 12-hour, one-day off, 10-hour, one-day off rotations. Patrol officers always work with a partner to ensure maximum officer safety and effective distribution of assets. Other assignments for officers include horse-mounted units, detective specializations, specialized tactics unit and traffic enforcement unit, the majority of these assignments are available after an officer has spent a minimum of two years on patrol.

The starting net salary for police officer recruits during the 18-month academy is just over €6,000. After successful graduation, a police officer is placed into the 26th pay grade with the salary increasing to €9,000 and the rank Police Officer IV. Police officers are eligible for a paygrade advancement every three years, following satisfactory work results. Top-step annual net salary for a police officer with only a high-school education (Police Officer I) is €13,800.

Rank structure and insignia

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Insignias indicating the officer's rank are worn on the shoulder of a shirt or jacket. The insignias for regular officers are dark blue with one or more hexagram golden stars and a light-blue trim all-round. Higher-ranking officers have a golden all-round trim. Command staff insignias are embroidered with a golden Triglav-logo. The insignias of the deputy director general and the director general also have embroidered golden olive leaves.

Police officer IV Police officer III Police officer II Police officer I Police inspector IV Police inspector III Police inspector II Police inspector I Police superintendent IV Police superintendent III Police superintendent II Police superintendent I Deputy director general of the police Director general of the police
Policist IV Policist III Policist II Policist I Policijski inšpektor IV Policijski inšpektor III Policijski inšpektor II Policijski inšpektor I Policijski svetnik IV Policijski svetnik III Policijski svetnik II Policijski svetnik I Namestnik generalnega direktorja policije Generalni direktor policije

Complement and equipment

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As of March 1, 2016, the Slovenian police force employed 6,928 officers, at a ratio of 34.25 officers per 10,000 of the population.[2] It also employed 968 detectives and 87 members of the Slovenian Police Special Unit. Of the force's 2,209 vehicles, there were 1726 police cars (including civilian), 87 response vehicles, 165 all-terrain vehicles and 137 motorbikes.[2] To complement these land vehicles, the Slovenian police utilize 6 boats, as well as 7 helicopters. The police officers in Slovenia were armed with the 7.65 mm Crvena Zastava M-70 handgun, which have been replaced by the Beretta M92 and Beretta 8000. Some units also use SIG Sauer and Glock pistols. Supporting weapons include Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine guns, Heckler & Koch G36 and Zastava M-70 assault rifles.[2]

Vehicles

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Old cars used by Slovenian police they were replaced in 2017
Škoda Octavia III police car bought in 2017

The Slovenian Police currently operate over 2,000 police cars which are used for a variety of different roles. These include the Citroën Jumper, Ford Focus, Volkswagen Transporter, Volkswagen Touareg, Škoda Superb and Renault Master transports and police cars. The majority of the patrol cars consist of the new Škoda Octavia which were bought in the years of 2016 and 2017 and replaced outdated Opel Astra and Škoda Octavia.

BMW M550i xDrive police car bought in 2021

In recent years, the Slovenian Police have been making an increased effort to replace the outdated car fleet with newer additions. In 2014 the Police ordered 156 Renault Mégane Grandtour police cruisers for the purposes of Schengen Area Border Control, along with 155 VW Golf Variant unmarked police cruisers.[8] In 2015 additional orders have been placed for 14 unmarked VW Golf Variant unmarked police cars, several high-speed Provida VW passat 2,0 TDI police interceptors and 12 new VW Golf Variant marked police cruisers, for the first time featuring newly designed fluorescent-yellow reflective markings to increase visibility at night and poor weather conditions.[9] In 2016 the Police ordered a combined number of 328 new vehicles, ranging from all-terrain 4x4 to specialised patrol unmarked cars, which are set to be chosen and delivered until the end of the year. In 2018 they also got 21 SUVs Seat Ateca.

Firearms

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Weapon Origin
Beretta 92  Italy
Beretta 8000  Italy
SIG Sauer P226  Germany
Glock 19  Austria
Heckler & Koch MP5  Germany
Heckler & Koch G36  Germany
Heckler & Koch HK416  Germany
Zastava M70  Serbia

Helicopters

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Agusta Bell 212
Agusta Bell 412

In use

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Aircraft Origin Role Versions Registration Number Notes
Agusta Bell 206  Italy Policing 206B-3 JetRanger III S5-HPD
S5-HPE 		2[10]
AgustaWestland AW109  Italy Policing A109E Power S5-HPG 1[10] S5-HPG: Border Control & Medico,
Eurocopter EC 135  European Union Policing EC-135 P2+ S5-HPH 1[10] Schengen Area Border Control
AgustaWestland AW169  Italy Policing S5-HPI Indra

S5-HPJ Julka S5-HPL Lojzka

3[10]

Retired

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Aircraft Origin Role Versions Registration Number Notes
Agusta Bell 212  Italy Policing Agusta-Bell AB 212 S5-HPB 1 Retired,[10] on display in Pivka Park of Military History
Agusta Bell 412  Italy Policing S5-HPA 1 Retired[10]
AgustaWestland AW109  Italy Policing A109A Hirundo S5-HPC 1 S5-HPC: (Medico version) out of service – sold
Motorcycle of Slovenian Police

Motorcycles

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Honda Deauville
Yamaha FJR1300AP
BMW R1150RT

Patrol boats

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Slovenian patrol boat P-66 in Piran.
Slovenian patrol boat P-111 in Koper.

P-66
P-88
P-89
P-111 - retired, on display in Pivka Park of Military History
P-08
P-16

References

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Law enforcement in Slovenia.
  1. ^ "Police - Number of Employees". Retrieved July 18, 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d e Slovenian Police Archived September 29, 2017, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved April 7, 2016
  3. ^ a b c OSCE profile page Archived June 23, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved May 29, 2007
  4. ^ "Zakon za uravnoteženje javnih financ (ZUJF)". pisrs. Retrieved April 7, 2016.
  5. ^ "Podpisan stavkovni sporazum s sindikatoma v policiji | Ministrstvo za notranje zadeve". www.mnz.gov.si. Archived from the original on August 3, 2016. Retrieved June 3, 2016.
  6. ^ "MNZ: Objavljene plače vsebujejo tudi vse dodatke" [Ministry of the Interior: The Published Salaries also Contain all Supplements] (in Slovenian). 24ur.com. January 12, 2021. Retrieved January 24, 2021.
  7. ^ Žist, Damjana (January 13, 2021). "Objava plač policistov in zaposlenih na MNZ: Na seznamu tudi imena, ki bi morala biti tajna" [Publication of the Salaries of Police and Employees of the Ministry of the Interior: The List also Contains Names that Should Be Confidential]. Retrieved January 24, 2021.
  8. ^ Djordjević, Nina. "Generalni direktor policije policistom predal ključe novih službenih vozil". policija.si. Archived from the original on July 5, 2022. Retrieved July 5, 2016.
  9. ^ zurnal24.si. "To so zmagovalci razpisa za nova policijska vozila". Retrieved July 5, 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ a b c d e f "Policija pridobila še tretji večnamenski transportni helikopter". www.24ur.com (in Slovenian). Retrieved December 4, 2023.
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