Gledis Nano, the head of the Albanian State Police, has circulated a memo to the leaders of all police districts and departments calling on them to improve their behaviour due to the concerning perceptions of citizens.
The memo, seen by Euronews, mentions corruption and unprofessional behaviour by police officers as some of the citizens’ main concerns.
“Recently, as the General Director, I have received many comments from citizens about the work of the state police. I have also closely followed most of the citizens’ reactions on social networks,” the memo states.
It goes on to talk of citizen complaints against state police, road police, patrol officers, and the border police.
“Police officers who do not know humanity at all, who do not tolerate (within the law) honest citizens but tolerate villains and traffickers.
Many denunciations on social networks also for the Border Police for taking bribes from the vessels, and as a result, we are in this situation today.
Arrogant behaviour from General Patrols and Eagles, in most cases only to pressure and take bribes.
Tens of hundreds of similar messages have come and continue to come. This is very disturbing, very alarming,” the memo continues.
Nano repeated one message he received, which stated that most of the older police should be removed for corruption, but the younger ones have “endless problems with communication with citizens; they are inferior in educational and human communication.”
He said it is very painful for the police to hear such comments and that all officers must reflect urgently on how they are perceived by the public.
