Two special police units to be merged

Two special police units to be merged

BELGRADE -- Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic has announced that two special forces units of the Interior Ministry (MUP) will be merged into one unit.

MUP's Gendarmerie, meanwhile, will remain a separate formation.

The Special Anti-Terrorist Unit (SAJ) and the Counter-Terrorist Unit (PTJ) will be merged into a single unit, but the name SAJ will be retained because the SAJ has "a longer tradition and a better-arranged base," he said.

In an interview published in the Easter double issue of the Politika daily, Stefanovic said that this will not be a simple fusion because members of these and other Interior Ministry units will become part of a new unit composed of only the best.

"There is no reason whatsoever to have two units that serve the same purpose and have similar compositions. That is expensive," the minister said.

The maintaining of public order will be organized differently and the idea is to reduce the number of police officers on those duties, Stefanovic said.

The Gendarmerie should be more involved in maintaining public order in order to relieve the Intervention Unit, which would be dealing with curbing crime more, he said.