Law enforcement in Slovenia

Law enforcement in Slovenia is the responsibility of the Slovenian National Police force, which is comprised of the 11 police directorates in Celje, Koper, Kranj, Krško, Ljubljana, Maribor, Murska Sobota, Nova Gorica, Novo mesto, Postojna and Slovenj Gradec. [http://www.policija.si/portal_en/ Slovenian Police] Retrieved 24 April 2008] The police force maintains a number of international partnerships with foreign police forces, including training with the FBI, and involvement in Albania and Kosovo with the Multinational Advisory Police Element. The Slovenian police force was admitted to OSCE on 24 March 1992.OSCE [http://polis.osce.org/countries/details?item_id=49 profile page] retrieved May 29 2007]

Organization

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. Slovenia is divided into 11 police directorates which control 106 police stations, all of which come under the jurisdiction of the Director General of the Police. 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.

Complement and equipment

As of January 1 2006, the Slovenian police force employed 8855 officers, at a ratio of 44.3 officers per 10,000 of the population. It also employed 799 criminologists and 103 members of the Slovenian Police Special Unit. Of the force's 2192 vehicles, there were 905 police cars, 134 response vehicles, 273 all-terrain vehicles and 165 motorbikes. To complement these land vehicles, the Slovenian police utilize a number of P111 rescue boats and P88 rubber inflatable boats, as well as four Agusta Bell AB-206 JetRanger helicopters. The police officers in Slovenia are armed with the 7.65 mm Crvena Zastava M-70 handgun, which replaced the Berretta M92 and Beretta M-8000. Supporting weapons include Heckler & Koch machine guns, M-70 automatics and M-59/66 semi-automatic weapons.

References