By: Dr Vinko Gorenak
“In the middle of the street, in the public eye, use a baton or other coercive means decisively against lawbreakers, but only if there are lawful reasons for doing so. I will never allow coercive measures to be used contrary to the law. In the first case, I will protect you, but in the second case, you will be in serious disfavour, and through legal means, you will leave the police force and end up on the street.”
This was a sentence that I, in my role as a local or regional police chief, consistently reiterated to all police officers. Not only did I repeat it, but I also consistently implemented it everywhere. Most police officers appreciated this, and they carried out their work in accordance with it for the benefit of public safety. A few individuals, however, found themselves on the other side and had to leave the police force. Yes, this is how I acted during the times of strict socialism, and today, I would not act any differently. But today, things are no longer as they used to be. Today, we live in a parliamentary democracy where the ruling majority, with the support of a coalition in the National Assembly, can do whatever they want. Let’s look at an example.
On the 5th and 6th of October 2021, a meeting of EU leaders and leaders of Western Balkan countries took place in Slovenia. From a security perspective, this was one of the most challenging events for the police. The forecasts were clear and menacing; protesters intended to block Brdo pri Kranju with tractors and trucks, disrupting the meeting. They also aimed to impede the movement of protected individuals, such as heads of states and governments, in Ljubljana. The seriousness of their threats was evidenced by certain events leading up to the critical date of October 5th, 2021. The same group of troublemakers attempted to breach the National Assembly on September 15th, 2021, and on September 29th, 2021, they blocked the centre of Ljubljana. They walked down Celovška Street to the ring road, where the police prevented their entry onto the motorway. This group was led by a former police officer, Zoran Stevanović, who had been expelled from the police force due to suspicions of criminal activity. His political list is represented in the Municipal Council of Kranj, and it still garners support close to the parliamentary threshold in surveys to this day.
The epilogue was relatively favourable, except for the blockade of one of the country’s presidents (Albania), who could not travel in the desired direction and had to reroute elsewhere. There were no other security incidents. However, the police in the centre of Ljubljana used tear gas and water cannons with gas additives against a crowd of violent demonstrators (this is permitted by the law).
If the police had not acted decisively, the situation could have been entirely different. Can you imagine columns of presidents and prime ministers stranded on the highway, becoming targets for attackers and unable to reach Brdo pri Kranju? Can you imagine a similar situation in Ljubljana, where protesters occupy the streets, and heads of states and governments cannot reach the hotels where they were staying? Can you imagine the vehicles of fleeing heads of governments and states rushing to Croatia, Italy, Hungary, or Austria to the nearest airports, where they would literally escape back home, and the meeting in Slovenia would not have happened? It is a grim scenario, but just a day or two before the meeting, it could have become a reality. What would be the political and moral damage to Slovenia, what would be the economic damage to Slovenia? Not to mention the other tremendously negative effects on Slovenia.
However, none of that happened. Despite a single security incident, the meeting proceeded entirely normally. This is thanks to the police and their leadership, not only the then Police Director General, Dr Anton Olaj, but also the ten individual police chiefs who acted decisively and lawfully. Furthermore, credit goes to the officers on the ground who carried out their duties.
Yet, the hearing of Tatjana Bobnar before the Committee on Internal Affairs in the National Assembly, as a candidate for the position of the Minister of the Interior, gave an idea of what would happen next. Dr Anton Olaj immediately appointed a group of experts to verify the legality of the police’s actions during that time. Apart from minor irregularities, which can occur when the police are used extensively, the group of experts did not find any systemic violations by the police or police chiefs. However, the then candidate for the position of Minister of the Interior, Tatjana Bobnar, listed violations by the police and police chiefs as if she alone were the ultimate authority to determine what was lawful and what was not.
With Tatjana Bobnar’s appointment, a pogrom on police chiefs and officers who had carried out police duties on the critical day, as well as before and after, began. They were tasked with protecting both the dignitaries and the public and their property. Unfortunately, the situation has not improved since her departure.
Both the Prime Minister and the Minister of the Interior, Boštjan Poklukar, personally met with the leaders of the mentioned protests (Nika Kovač, Jaša Jenull, Zoran Stevanovič, the latter being the main leader of the events on the critical day). Furthermore, within the Golob Coalition, they even drafted a law on amnesty, under which law violators will not have to pay fines, and those who have already paid fines will be refunded by the state. Absurd. It is said to be related to Covid-19 decrees, which were invalidated by the Constitutional Court but were in effect and lawful during the police measures.
But that is not all. At this moment, the police, in cooperation with the Specialised State Prosecutor’s Office, the department for the prosecution of public officials, is conducting a pretrial procedure against at least sixteen police chiefs at the local and regional levels who, during the critical time, with their lawful orders and actions, secured not only the heads of state and governments of Europe and the Western Balkans, but their most significant achievement was preserving the reputation of the state of Slovenia.
Even that is not the worst part. The worst are, of course, the consequences of Golob’s coalition’s decisions. Put yourself in the shoes of a police officer or a police chief at the local, regional, or national level. Their thinking is clear: if you act lawfully, you will be prosecuted, but if you do nothing, nothing will happen to you. It is not surprising that the police will not take action against lawbreakers, why would they, when lawbreakers can be rewarded, and the police officers can be punished. This leads to nothing but anarchy.
It is an upside-down world, indeed. A state that prosecutes those who maintain order while rewarding lawbreakers is on the wrong path. Under Golob’s coalition, based on the facts, this is even more pronounced and demonstrable.