North Macedonia

The Bureau for Public Security

The Bureau for Public Security is a body within the Ministry of Interior, which performs the police affairs in the Ministry and whose organization and competence are regulated by the Law on Police (“Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia”, no. 114/06, 6/09, 145/12, and 41/14).

Within the competence of the Bureau for Public Security are conceptual planning, monitoring and analysis of the security situation and the causes of crime and endangering public safety; general and professional supervision and control over the work of the organizational units of the Police; personal data processing under the terms and the manner determined by this and by a separate law; implementation of ratified international agreements on police cooperation and other international acts for which the Police is responsible; care for the readiness of the Police to act and work in conditions of complex security situation and other affairs determined by law.

The Bureau is managed by a Director, who, upon the Minister’s proposal, is appointed and dismissed by the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia for a period of four years.

Within the competence of the Bureau for Public Security to perform police affairs, the following organizational units were established:

 

  1. Department for Uniform Police is responsible for day-to-day policing in the fields of public order and peace, prevention, police activities involving complex security situations, day-to-day policing in the fields of traffic and traffic prevention; checking the way of conducting the driving test and the test for checking the expertise of a driver-instructor; participating in the procedure for issuing and revoking the driver-instructor’s license and other actions in the field of traffic.

 

  1. Department for Criminal Police coordinates the measures and activities with the organizational units which are responsible for criminal affairs and the Regional Centers for Border Affairs in order to ensure uniform action by the operational police services in the field.

 

  1. Department for Criminal Intelligence and Analysis collects, processes, and analyzes data and information according to previously established methodologies and processing standards, prepares analytical products and reports, and disseminates them to the organizational units of the Bureau for Public Security.

 

  1. Department for Border Affairs and Migrations is responsible for day-to-day policing in the fields of border affairs, police activities related to cross-border crime and migration, as well as affairs related to foreigners and readmission.

 

  1. Department for Common Affairs and Human Resources Management is responsible for performing certain professional affairs for the needs of the Bureau for Public Security in the fields of human resources management, legal and financial affairs, personal data protection, staff development, and representation of communities that care about gender equality.

 

  1. Department for Suppression of Serious and Organized Crime is responsible, at the central level, for the collection, processing, and analysis of data and information about persons or criminal groups involved in organized and serious crime at the national and international level in order to implement proactive and reactive criminal investigations and provide evidence for the detection of crimes and their prosecution to the competent public prosecutor’s office; detection and prevention of crimes that are being prosecuted on official duty, are being prepared, are being executed, or have been committed by an organized group, gang, or other criminal association, which operates for a specified or indefinite period, in order to commit one or more criminal acts at the national or international level, for which a prison sentence of at least four years is provided, with the intention of directly or indirectly acquiring a financial or other type of benefit; has the authority to detect and prevent crimes for which special investigative measures can be determined in accordance with the law, crimes of terrorism; carrying out covert operations and, within those frameworks, applying special investigative measures by positive normative-legal acts, performing criminal intelligence affairs, and performing criminal intelligence analysis; achieving cooperation and exchanging information with competent state institutions, non-governmental organizations in the Republic of North Macedonia, and foreign police services and organizations, by the signed national and international cooperation agreements and protocols; annually organizes the preparation of a strategic threat assessment of organized and serious crime at the national level; based on the prepared strategic assessment, it determines the priorities for work of the Department and defines them in the Control strategy as a basis for opening criminal investigations and applying special investigative measures; integrating the criminal-intelligence process at the national level; providing support with guidelines in the preparation of regional strategic assessments (six per month and an annual one) for threats from organized and serious crime and their integration at the national level; preparing a monthly tactical assessment to monitor the activities undertaken in the realization of the priorities defined in the Control strategy.

 

  1. Department for Protection of Specific Persons and Facilities organizes and implements the provision and protection of certain persons, facilities, and areas of special importance for the security and defense of the country; taking preventive measures to prevent access or direct contact with persons who may endanger the security of people and facilities; implementing chemical, biological, radiation, and other sanitary health measures to prevent contamination of the space and objects to be protected, as well as the presence of toxic substances harmful to people’s health in the food and beverages consumed; implementing anti-subversive measures to detect and remove explosives and other dangerous substances that could jeopardize the safety of the facilities and the safety of the people being protected; implementing defensive electro-technical measures and video surveillance of secured facilities and protected individuals; performing internal and external physical security of facilities in order to prevent illegal actions and ensure the safety of those present in the facilities and others who visit them for various reasons; providing physical and traffic security for diplomatic and consular missions, trains, and critical facilities.

 

  1. Department for Aviation Units participates in the creation of the strategy for the development of the aviation component within the Ministry; approves plans for the realization of flight tasks; taking measures for the safe and secure performance of flight tasks; preparation of professional development training programs for aviation personnel; undertaking measures for the continuous improvement of the professional competence and the psychophysical readiness of the aviation personnel; controlling the performance of assigned tasks; organizing the flight in accordance with the legal and by-law requirements that regulate the development of safe air navigation; cooperating in the realization of tasks with other organizational units in the Ministry; realizing educational activities with other organizational units in the Ministry; preparing guides and updating manuals, instructions, and other operational documentation; creating and implementing a quality system.

 

  1. Department for Special Police Operations solves complex security situations involving public safety and crisis conditions, including the establishment of disturbing public order and peace on a larger scale, assisting the Department for Suppression of Organized and Serious Crime in the arrest of dangerous persons, assisting border police in the prevention and capture of illegal crossings by subversive terrorist groups at the green border, and providing support to the Sectors for Internal Affairs in the arrest of dangerous persons who disturb public order and peace on a larger scale.

 

  1. Department for Examination and Expert Testimony (Forensics Department) is responsible for carrying out inspections at the scene of the event, during which he finds and secures objects and traces that are important for the detection of perpetrators of crimes, documents all material traces and evidence, and performs laboratory tests, analyses, and experiments; preparation of expert reports from all areas of operation of the Department; participation in judicial reconstructions, during autopsies and exhumations, includes criminal identification of persons and objects, registration, and decadactyloscopic identification; creation and updating of dactyloscopic collections of traces of papillary lines in manual and electronic form (AFIS); performing polygraph testing and making a photo robot; production of photographs and use of special techniques; analysis of audio and video material.

 

  1. Sector for International Police Cooperation enables transfer of knowledge about criminal services in the country and abroad, especially in the fight against serious forms of crime and organized crime; achieving law enforcement authority coordination (ILECU) through collaboration with international police organizations such as INTERPOL, SELEC, EUROPOL, and others, as well as police officers appointed from foreign countries in the Republic of North Macedonia or the region; ensuring participation in the Ministry’s international police activities; represents the National Central Unit in accordance with the Convention on Police Cooperation in South-Eastern Europe; assisting CPC organizational units in achieving more efficient performance of operational goals; cooperation with the Department for Border Affairs and Migrations and the Regional Centers for Border Affairs in the search for persons, vehicles, objects, and documents, as well as their control when crossing the state border; cooperation with the Sectors for Internal Affairs in the area of determining the identity of persons, checking residence and place of residence, checking vehicles, companies, buildings, documents, and more at the request of foreign police services; participation in establishing, maintaining, and developing telecommunication systems with international police organizations, in accordance with legal regulations and international agreements; collaboration with the Ministry of Justice, courts, and the prosecutor’s office on extradition and international legal assistance; collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and the Customs Administration on cross-border crime suppression; collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

 

  1. Sector for Cybercrime and Digital Forensics aims to conduct criminal investigations; preventing, detecting, documenting, and reporting perpetrators of crimes, including acts of computer crime, child pornography, abuse, and forgery of payment cards, and performs digital forensics; participates in conducting inspections at the scene of the event, where he finds and secures objects and traces that are important for the detection of perpetrators of crimes, documents all material traces and evidence, conducts examinations, analyses, and tests; follows and advances the characteristic methods for detecting essential and non-essential computer crimes in cybernetic space; continuous monitoring of international and internal standards for the provision of electronic evidence;  participation in the alignment and harmonization of internal legislation with international conventions and declarations;  proposing forms and methods for education and professional development of staff; establishing cooperation with domestic institutions, especially with service providers in the internet space, as well as with foreign and international legal entities and organizations.

 

 

  1. Sectors for Internal Affairs (8) perform the security tasks in the field of public security, which, according to the Constitution and laws of the Republic of North Macedonia, are under the competence of the police and the Regional Centers for Border Affairs; monitoring and analyzing state security and phenomena that contribute to the emergence and spread of criminality; organizing, coordinating, directing, and controlling the affairs of the Police stations of general competence, The Department for Criminal Affairs, and the Department for Prevention; work on analytics and documentation; performing operational affairs, criminal affairs, criminal technical affairs, road traffic safety affairs, public order affairs, and peace maintenance affairs; and joint affairs (legal, organizational, personal, financial, telecommunications affairs, and information support); logistics affairs; organize and coordinate activities under extraordinary circumstances in coordination with the Bureau for Public Security; provide adequate help and support from personnel, materials, and technical centers, funds, and equipment of other Sectors for Internal Affairs and Regional Centers for Border Affairs; organize and coordinate preventive measures activities and provide persons and facilities in their area, achieve continuous cooperation with the Bureau for Public Security and Regional Centers for Border Affairs on issues of common interest, works on education and training of police officers and performs other tasks established in other regulations. The Sectors for Internal Affairs in the area of suppression of organized and serious crime are functionally connected with the Department for Suppression of Organized and Serious Crime and within that framework are obliged to:  provide it with adequate support in material and human resources; and submit to the Department all the relevant data and information necessary for the preparation of the analytical products that are within the competence of the Department.

 

14. Unit for Police Dogs deals with breeding, reproduction, veterinary protection, and training of service dogs for search and detection of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances, precursors, explosives, and explosive devices; the purchase, expenditure of service dogs that, for various reasons, do not fulfill their conditions for further use in the service; organizing training courses for service dog guide candidates; carrying out inspection, control, and examination of the working and fitness readiness of the service dogs in the same and other SIAs (DBAM), as well as their keeping, feeding, and accommodation.

 

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