Police Service Offices (AL0043)

The Albanian Government in the aim to ensure and facilitate the access to Police Service, will establish “one stop shop” point in each police district with the purpose to: create a unified reception desk for all services delivered, simplify the procedures and limit the number of documents to be submitted. The one stop shop will also improve and make more efficient the cooperation Police Community thus helping in the creation of a safer community and raise public participation. Currently the police district stations are closed areas where the citizens have very little access or not access at all. This commitment aims to open up police services to citizens by offering them not only access but also a transparent service, on time, avoiding bureaucracy and corruption.
Service delivery to citizens through these offices will increase the citizen’s trust to the police, and will affect in the prevention of the corruption phenomena among the police organization. Restoring the communication with the public, through the provision of the administrative and procedural services, aims to be achieved through the electronic registration of their needs and their requests, and forwarding them, together with relevant documentation to the office of reviewing and resolving the problem within the time, as scheduled. The Police Service Offices will be set up and operate in all of police structures, from the General Directorate of Police to the police directorates and commissariats in the districts, which will have open premises for the public and will operate non-stop 24 hours, reception-shaped, for Administrative and Procedural Service. The number of police service offices that will be open, the number of services that will be available for citizens, the number of citizens served will used as indicators to verify the implementation of this commitment.

For Commitment details, see Albania Mid-Term Report 2014-2016.

Commitment 4.2. Police Service Offices

Commitment Text: The Albanian Government in the aim to ensure and facilitate the access to Police Service, will establish “one stop shop” point in each police district with the purpose to: create a unified reception desk for all services delivered, simplify the procedures and limit the number of documents to be submitted. The one stop shop will also improve and make more efficient the cooperation Police-Community thus helping in the creation of a safer community and raise public participation. Currently the police district stations are closed areas where the citizens have very little access or not access at all. This commitment aims to open up police services to citizens by offering them not only access but also a transparent service, on time, avoiding bureaucracy and corruption. Service delivery to citizens through these offices will increase the citizen’s trust to the police, and will affect in the prevention of the corruption phenomena among the police organization. Restoring the communication with the public, through the provision of the administrative and procedural services, aims to be achieved through the electronic registration of their needs and their requests, and forwarding them, together with relevant documentation to the office of reviewing and resolving the problem within the time, as scheduled. The Police Service Offices will be set up and operate in all of police structures, from the General Directorate of Police to the police directorates and commissariats in the districts, which will have open premises for the public and will operate non-stop 24 hours, reception-shaped, for Administrative and Procedural Service. The number of police service offices that will be open, the number of services that will be available for citizens, the number of citizens served will used as indicators to verify the implementation of this commitment.

Editorial Note: The commitment's description elaborates on a number of specific actions that may be categorized into two core milestones:

1. Establishing the “one stop shop” point (24/7 reception) in each police district

a. A unique reception desk for all services delivered operating with simplified procedures

2. Electronically registering citizens' needs and requests and forwarding them to the respective offices

Responsible institution: General Directorate of State Police

Supporting institution(s): N/A

Start date: 2014 End date: 2016

Commitment Aim:

This commitment aims to improve the quality of police services to citizens. The police service offices should serve as one-stop shops for citizens. They are meant to simplify the procedures and limit the number of documents citizens need to submit. Sophisticated information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure, including a software application that facilitates monitoring the entire service-delivery process, assists the offices and promotes transparency.

This commitment represents an important step toward enhancing public trust by making police services more open and efficient.

Status

Midterm: Substantial

By September 2015, the police service offices had been established in nine out of twelve of the police regional directorates in the country. During 2015, the application for electronic registration of citizens’ requests was developed and tested for some services, such as lost document statements and authorizations for hunting weapons. Based on this testing, there were further upgrades to the application. The IRMmidterm report found that this commitment produced additional initiatives beyond its scope. For instance, the police took innovative steps, such as introducing the digital commissariat application, to encourage proactive citizens. The digital commissariat application (“Komisariati dixhital”) enables citizens to report corruption and other illegal activities in real time to the State Police. ^{IRM progress report, http://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2001/01/Albania_Second%20IRM%20Report_for%20public%20comment.pdf.}

End of term: Substantial

According to the Government’s end-of-term self-assessment (September 2016) report, 20 Citizen Service Offices (CSO) were established in the local police departments of Tirana, Lezha, Berat, Vlora, Korça,Fier, Kukës, Durrës, Elbasan, Shkodra, Dibra, Gjirokastra, Pogradec, Lushnjë, and Kavaja. The IRM researcher traced and confirmed the opening of these service offices. ^{Inauguration of one-stop-shop offices (2015–2016),}

http://www.punetebrendshme.gov.al/al/te-rejat/lajme/celen-zyrat-e-sherbimit-unik-per-qytetaret-ne-korce-e-pogradec-video,

https://www.asp.gov.al/index.php/component/content/article/17-shqip/lajmet-e-fundit/9078-inaugurimi-i-zyrave-te-sherbimit-per-qytetaret-ne-komisariatin-e-policise-nr-5-ne-kamez,

https://www.asp.gov.al/index.php/component/content/article/275-slideshow-home/8159-inagurohet-zyra-e-sherbimit-unik-per-qytetaret-ne-kom-3-ne-tirane,

https://www.asp.gov.al/index.php/component/content/article/275-slideshow-home/7486-celet-zyra-e-sherbimit-per-qytetaret-ne-durres,

https://www.asp.gov.al/index.php/component/content/article/275-slideshow-home/7347-elbasan-hapen-zyrat-e-sherbimit-per-qytetaret,

http://www.punetebrendshme.gov.al/al/te-rejat/lajme/ministri-tahiri-inauguron-komisariatin-dhe-zyren-e-sherbimeve-ne-lushnje,

http://www.punetebrendshme.gov.al/al/te-rejat/lajme/lezhe-inaugurohet-zyra-e-sherbimit-unik-ne-drejtorine-vendore-te-policise. Additionally, significant progress was made on electronically registering citizens' needs and requests. The application for the electronic registry has been fully developed and implemented in all regional directorates. ^{Interview with Ministry of Interior official, September 2016.} However, not all application functions work properly, and the ICT infrastructure needs further investment.

Did it open government?

Access to information: Marginal

Public accountability: Did not change

The one-stop shops offer better citizen access to police services and are intended to simplify procedures, such as obtaining permits and passports. The offices have helped citizens access information about official documents and permits, information that was publicly available but in less accessible language. in the official gazette (published laws) or on the website of the State Police. On the other hand, the software used in the police offices is designed only for internal operations, and as of September 2016 there were no mechanisms for citizens to evaluate police office services. Therefore, this commitment has not led to any changes in improving public accountability.

Despite the improvements and reforms over the past years, police corruption is still a serious concern. ^{European Commission, Albania Progress Report, October 2014, p. 2. bit.ly/1BQGIgC.} Preliminary findings from the 2016 Institute for Democracy and Mediation (IDM) study on police integrity and corruption in Albania highlight that corruption remains serious and widespread in the State Police.^{Interview with IDM research team on the “Police integrity index,” October 2016.} Independent experts argue that the commitment should be accompanied with more comprehensive monitoring and accountability measures. ^{Interviews with civil society experts and a focus group discussion, September 2015.} Some concrete measures include immediate citizen evaluation of services at police service offices and publicly available analysis including datasets of performance indicators (i.e., number of complaints/requests received and processed at police service offices, average time of processing, and a list of the most applied for services).

Carried forward?

This commitment has not been carried forward in the new 2016–2018 action plan. The IRM midterm report 2014–2015 recommended a number of actions which if implemented would have a significant impact on opening government. These measures include partnering with civil society or community organizations to monitor performance of police service offices and introducing anonymous evaluation tools for citizens accessing the offices.