Presenting the Ministry Activity Information, Minister of Interior Dr Nebojsa Stefanovic said that the previous period had experienced a 9% drop in overall crime, and all grave crimes were solved. He said that between July and September, the police exposed eight organised criminal groups with a total of 42 members active in financial, general and hi-tech crime, as well as 1,757 instances of economic crime. Minister Stefanovic also said that at the beginning of the month the Ministry of Interior was commended by the European Commission for its efforts against organised crime and corruption, who gave it a positive assessment as regards opening Chapter 24. Stefanovic said that 12,658 crimes against property were reported in said period, which is 16.6% less than in the same interval last year. He added that the instances of grand larceny had dropped from 6,157 to 4,899, car thefts from 462 to 400, burglary from 607 to 553, robberies from 22 to 17. He also said that in the three months there have been 9,160 traffic accidents, which is 2.3% more than in the same period in 2014, however, this year about 1.5 million vehicles more passed through Serbia than last year.

Minister of Interior Dr Nebojsa Stefanovic said that in the period between July and September there were 1,638 reports of domestic violence, which is 60% more than in the same period last year, saying he was sure that was the result of the growing trust in the police and the fact that the citizens more often decide to report domestic violence and that this problem is discussed more. He also said that in July the Criminal Police Administration set up a Domestic Violence Prevention and Suppression Unit. Minister Stefanovic said that from July to September the police had seized about 600 kg of drugs of different kinds, as well as 8,671 synthetic drug items. He also said that it the three months the police had achieved significant results in the detection of excisable goods abuse leading to the seizure of 30,497 cases of cigarettes. Minister of Interior Dr Nebojsa Stefanovic also said that in the three-month period 140 criminal charges had been filed against police officers under suspicion of various criminal offenses, adding that 466 disciplinary procedures had been launched against police officials in said period, which is 59 less than last year.

In the ensuing debate the Committee members asked the Minister questions about some of the segments of the presented Activity Information and other topics closely connected with the work of the Ministry of Interior. In the course of the several-hour-long discussion Minister Stefanovic answered all the Committee members’ questions.

Click here to watch the Committee sitting.

The sitting was chaired by Committee Chairperson Marija Obradovic.