Kosovo Police

Kosovo Police (Policia e Kosovës; Kosovska Policije) was created in 1999 in the aftermath of the Kosovo War and subsequent withdrawal of the Yugoslav and forces from Kosovo.

The establishment of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) included a large international policing component, named the UNMIK Police. They were given two primary tasks by UN Security Council Resolution 1244: 1) to establish a new police force; 2) in the meantime, to maintain civil law and order. The name for the new police force "Kosovo Police Service," was chosen by the first international police commissioner, Ylli Dautaj. Recruitment began immediately, and a former police school premise in the city of Vučitrn was renovated by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which began to train cadets. To this day, the force remains subordinated to the UNMIK Police, and the police commissioner retains command authority over both the international police and the Kosovo Police. The Kosovo Police has grown steadily since 1999, and in 2004 reached its planned full size of nearly 7,000 officers. About 85% of Kosovo Police officers are ethnic Albanians, 15% are ethnic Serbs as well as other smaller ethnic minorities.

Specialized units and breakdown
The main force making up the Kosovo Police is, of course, patrol. However the force has specialized investigative units in all six regions, to include Organized Crime Units, Forensics Units, and several others. In addition to those special units in the investigative side of law enforcement, every region has a Regional Operational Support Unit (called ROSU), who are specially trained for times where forced entry is needed on search warrants, as well as acting as the front line officers during riot situations, or in times when crowd control is necessary. The Kosovo Police Close Protection unit serves as the body guards for visiting heads of state, and for Kosovo's own political leaders.

The Motorcyclists Unit
The Motorcyclists Unit functions within the Kosovo Police Service. The first generation of this Unit is established on 29 August 2003 and 7 police officers were trained by the international instructors.

Second generation is trained in the second half of 2003 with 5 police officers while the third generation with 9 police officers is trained in 2004. In 2005 is trained fourth generation with twelve police officers, while currently the Motorcycles Unit has 32 police officers.

The main task and responsibility of the Motorcyclists Unit is escort of very important persons (VIP).

Close Protection Unit
Close Protection Unit within the Kosovo Police Service is established on 21 January 2002.

The main task of the Close Protection Unit is to provide personal protection to the very important persons (VIP). In addition, Close Protection Unit takes care also for temporarily or permanently assigned personalities, who are subjects of various levels of threat.

Close Protection Unit provides also tactical operations for escort of delegations, and then it conducts the evacuation of the international staff, Kosovo Police police officers and very important persons (VIP).

Special Intervention Unit SIU (Former GSI / SIG - FIT)
The true and honest history of the KPS special police unit refers to 2003 when it started with a standard SWAT team (2 teams of 15 officers each) trained by (2)American contractors on an elementary bases. In 2005 the "Special Intervention Group – GSI / SIG" project ( Grupi Special i Intervenimit GSI) in Albanian language or (Specijalna Interventna Grupa SIG) in Serbian language was launched as the Elite Force of Kosovo police to be the CT & HR strike force of the organization. Strict selection criteria was followed through several tests, and only (18) trainees were selected among hundreds of volunteer officers to be the first generation of the unit. It was established, equipped, coached and trained by (4) professional specialized instructors in the field "French GIPN", "Egyptian HRF", "German SEK" and "Bulgarian SP OPS" trainers who were serving with the UNMIK. Later on due to some difficulties the project was converted again to a standard SWAT level under the name of FIT (First Intervention Team) who was trained by (1) American SWAT officer and (3) French police officers. Recently the unit's level was re-elevated again to the old level under the name of SIU (Special Intervention Unit) to be responsible for Counter Terrorism & Hostage Rescue interventions in addition to its standard tasks like high risk arrests and combating the organized crime gangs in the country.

K-9 Unit
K-9 unit of Kosovo Police Service is established in November 2002. The first generation on behalf of K-9 unit had seven officers. These officers have completed basic training in Great Britain continuing with further trainings with international instructors. In 2000, K-9 unit began to operate with five police patrol dogs and five dogs for narcotics detections.

K-9 unit performs different police operation with seven police patrol dogs, three dogs for narcotics detections and one for explosives detection. K-9 unit has three local instructors who organize trainings for young officers envisaged to be part of K-9 unit.

In Yugoslavia
Table comparing the representation of several nationalities in the population and in the security forces in times of SFRY: