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Special Police Unit
Policije Jedinica (PJM)

The Special Police Unit (PJM) is made up of the home OUPs (organs of internal affairs) police located in every municipality in Belgrade, and of personnel recruited from the ranks of the traffic police. They work together with members of the Special Antiterrorist Unit (SAJ). The assignments of the PJM include intervention in demonstrations and they also provide security for all types of public gatherings. The PJM have been deployed to protect institutions of state importance: the Federal, Republic, and City Assemblies, the Serbian Presidency, the RTS [Serbian Radio and Television] building, Radio Belgrade , and the POLITIKA building.

The PJM's participate in all actions to disperse demonstrators, including those on 1 June 1993 and 9 March 1991. The February 1997 operation against demonstrators in the center of Belgrade, in which 5,000 policemen participated, was carried out by special police units of the Serbian MUP [Ministry of Internal Affairs] with the cooperation of the Intervention Brigade of the Belgrade SUP [Secretariat for Internal Affairs].

Their members, primarily squads from Kosovo, were also involved in the Bosnian war and, at that time, they and the "Red Berets" were under the unified command of a high-ranking functionary with the Serbian secret service, Franko Simatovic Frenki [commander of the special forces of the SDB -- State Security Service]. Kosovo was one of their priority deployment areas. When the situation in the Drenica area became complicated, a 700-strong special unit brigade was sent to Kosovo. They got per diems while they were in Kosovo.

Members of the PJM train several times a year, whenever necessary. There is one exercise, and all the rest is drill. They usually practice setting up crowd control cordons. This does not apply to demonstrations alone; they also train the same way for soccer games and for guarding important people. Cordons are not intended for use of physical strength or repression so long as its members are not threatened. While the average salary of a uniformed policemen is 1,700 dinars, the salary in special units is somewhat higher at 2,100 dinars on average.

As of early 1997, the commander of all special police units (PJMs) was Major General Obrad Stevanovic. Gen. Stevanovic is one of Radovan Stojicic's closest associates and the only general in the Serbian MUP who completed Military Academy. During his police career, he has been both a patrolman and an inspector, and is also one of the coauthors of the book "Civil Unrest," which is used as a textbook by Police Academy cadets.