Minister names officer to top police crime-fighting post

NEWS 28.06.201810:47
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The Serbian police top crime-fighting department got a new chief a year and a half after the previous chief retired, the Beta news agency reported on Thursday.

Internal Affairs Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic told TV Pink that Dejan Kovacevic had been promoted to head the Criminal Police Department (UKP) from his position as head of the subordinate Service to Combat Organized Crime (SBPOK).  

Kovacevic was nominated for the post by the Director of Police Vladimir Rebic, the minister said, adding that Kovacevic “is a true police professional”. “We were waiting to find the best man for the job and did not want to interrupt certain activities which were underway. We now expect the best results from Kovacevic,” Stefanovic said.  

The top post in the UKP is seen as the most important operational position in the Serbian police and whoever is in that post is unofficially called First Policeman. The post was left vacant in December 2016 when then chief Srdjan Paskvali retired.  

According to Belgrade media, the UKP was left without a chief for a total of three of the past five years.