The Slovene Police - Policija

The Slovene Police 29
POLICE TODAY
Autonomy of the Police and its basic tasks
The Police Act, enacted on July 18 th , 1998, provided the legal basis for the
establishment of the Police as an autonomous body within the Ministry of the
Interior. Through this, the Police acquired a high degree of autonomy, especially in
the field of the performance of police tasks and police powers. Its autonomy is
clearly shown in two fields: financial , as the police have its own item in the
national budget, and personnel. The Director General of the Police , as the head of
an autonomous body within the Ministry decides on the labour status of the
employees in the Police, whereas the personnel service take care of the employment
within the police force.
However, the independence, autonomy and expertise are not guaranteed to the
Police only by the Police Act, though it strongly reduced the possibility of the
influence of politics, of local interests and of other centres of power. It also clearly
defined police powers, rules of police ethics and reinforced the education and
permanent training of all employees.
The autonomy of the Police is also defined in the Constitution, the procedural penal
legislation, the Aliens Act, the State Border Control Act, the Misdemeanours Act,
The Act on Misdemeanours against Public Order and many other regulations.
The Police perform the following tasks in compliance with the law:
protect life, personal safety and the property of citizens;
prevent, discover and investigate criminal offences and violations,
discover and arrest the perpetrators of criminal offences and violations,
other searched for persons and hand them over to competent authorities;
maintain public order;
control and regulate the traffic on public roads and non-categorised
roads used for public transport;
protect the State border and perform border controls;
execute tasks defined by regulations on foreigners;
protect certain persons, authorities, premises and districts;
protect defined work posts and confidentiality of the data of State
authorities, if not defined otherwise by the law;
carry out tasks defined by laws and secondary acts.
Relationship between the Ministry and the Police
The Ministry of the Interior defines the development, organisational, personnel
and other basic directives for the work of the Police, takes care of its financial
operations and investments, co-ordinates and adjusts the police information and