Police of North Macedonia


Law enforcement in North Macedonia is the responsibility of the Police of the Republic of North Macedonia.
Police headquarters are located in Skopje at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and also maintain an air base in nearby Idrizovo. Taiwan, Canada, and Italy have all contributed Bell Helicopter Textron helicopters to the police force's Macedonian Police Aviation Unit in cooperation with the Air Force of North Macedonia to help combat insurgency the country.
The law enforcement agencies of North Macedonia are regulated by the Constitution of 1991, the Law on Internal Affairs of 1995, the Criminal Procedure Code of 1997 and the Draft Law on Changes and Additions to the Criminal Procedure Code. With police actions and behavior controlled by the Criminal Procedure Code, and the Law on Internal Affairs controlling the use of firearms by the police force. On July 1, 2003 the Law on the Police Academy was enacted, creating a police academy to train civil and border police officers.
The force has been the subject of a number of recent reforms regarding both the Albanian insurgency, and possible violations of human rights, with NATO officials stating that the force was "not really up to European standards"

History

The Police were subject to scrutiny during Albanian riots on 9 July 1997 when protesters collected in the western town of Gostivar. Over 200 were wounded and three killed
in a resulting clash with police riot squads, and the Humans Rights Watch investigated allegations of police brutality.
These events underlined a continuing friction between the Macedonian Police force and Albanians living in North Macedonia. The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights reported that police abuse of suspects, particularly during initial arrest and detention, and police harassment of ethnic minorities is ongoing.
The Police of North Macedonia work closely with the NATO peacekeepers in patrolling areas with high numbers of ethnic Albanians ever since the 2001 Macedonia conflict ended, and have been receiving weapons from surrendering Albanian insurgents. Violent attacks, however, still occur as in 2001 three officers were killed by Albanian gunmen.

Organization