Kosovo’s political leaders are never short of praise for the police, but officers themselves complain they are woefully compensated for their service.
Faced with rising discontent among police officers, Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti announced on Friday the reintroduction of hazard pay for the police force, citing the “tense situation” in the north of the country.
Kosovo’s Police Union has submitted a petition setting out a raft of demands on hazard pay, wage supplements, pensions, and insurance, arguing that police officers are not compensated properly for their service.
Hazard pay was scrapped under a new law on salaries that went into force in February, but the killing of a Kosovo Albanian police officer by Serb gunmen in northern Kosovo in late September has piled pressure on the government to address the police’s concerns.
After meeting his cabinet on Friday, Kurti told reporters that police officers would start receiving hazard pay again in November, paid retroactively to cover the period since February and staggered to reflect the degree of risk each officer’s specific duties involve, ranging from 45 euros per month at the lower end to 150 euros for ‘elite’ units.
Source : Balkan Insight
