Police School, candidates over 30 years old are "excluded", excellent ones are disqualified

In February 2023, the State Police announced that 300 vacancies for police officers have been opened. Candidates had to appear until March 15 at each directorate to submit the documents.

But one of the criteria was that these candidates should be up to 30 years old. This and several other criteria for health status, wearing glasses, tattoos or even "reliability" have disqualified hundreds of candidates, most of them qualified, who had graduated from a university or even excelled.

Dozens of people complained to the newsroom of the investigative show, who complained about the most exclusionary criterion; age up to 30 years! This criterion has been opposed before by a multitude of institutions, by the Commissioner for Protection from Discrimination, the People's Advocate or even by the State Police Union itself. "Setting the age of 30 years is an open violation of the law and the constitution, a citizen's right to compete even over the age of 30 years is taken away," Satedin Fisha, the head of the State Police Union, stated earlier. According to him, "it is the other criteria, the physical tests, that make the selection of the physical abilities that each individual has to compete, not age". However, again, the State Police in the February notice writes that the age limit is up to 30 years old!

Meanwhile, even the recruitments in the Prison Police had an age criterion of up to 35 years. But, in a public appearance, the Minister of Justice Ulsi Manja removed this criterion, opening the way for anyone to run. "They removed the age criterion for admission to the Prison Police for candidates up to 35 years old. There are decisions of the Constitutional Court, the European Court of Human Rights that determine that the age criterion is discriminatory. We have a very large number of vacancies", said Minister Manja.

Fiks Fare inquired at the State Police about this criterion, where we received an answer that the decision was taken by the Ministry of the Interior. The Ministry of the Interior itself claims that they were "forced" by the law on the State Police. So, there is a clash between them but which is actually harming hundreds of potential candidates for police officers, who are highly qualified, to become part of it.

After these answers, the candidates and Fiks journalists were interested in the Police Directorate of Tirana to register. Some candidates who were filling out the documents claim that the age of up to 30 years is an essential criterion. According to them, they cannot run if they are over 30 years old. On the other hand, an employee who accepts the documents, tells Fiksi that the age criterion "was set by the Minister of the Interior".

Gazetarët e Fiks Fare bisedojnë me z. Robert Gajda, komisioner për Mbrojtjen nga Diskriminimi. Ai thotë se Komisioneri ka dalë me një vendim në vitin 2021 për kriterin e moshës, i cili është diskriminues. Më tej shton se “s’mund t’ua mohosh të drejtën për punësim personave mbi 30 vjeç dhe justifikimet e policisë së duhen të rinj bien poshtë për shkak se kandidatët i nënshtrohen testimeve teorike dhe fizike”.

Komisioneri shton më tej se, megjithëse janë një seri vendimesh që janë lënë në fuqi edhe nga gjykata, sërish Ministria e Brendshme dhe Policia e Shtetit s’i kanë marrë parasysh, pasi edhe kriteret e pranimit në vitin 2023 janë të njëjta nga ato të mëparshmet, duke s’kualifikuar personat e kualifikuar edhe ekselentë.

Gajda pohon se janë edhe disa kritere të tjera të cilat janë diskriminuese, si kandidatët me syze. “Edhe këta kandidatë diskriminohen, pasi megjithë kualifikimet ata s’kualifikohen”, thotë ai.

Gjithashtu pohon se diskriminues është edhe kriteri i personave që kanë Hepatit B. Ligji i Policisë së Shtetit i ndalon kategorikisht, por nga një letër këmbim mes Komisionerit dhe ISHP-së sanksionohet se jo çdo person që mbart këtë virus mund ta përhapë. Ai thotë se s’mund të shkruash që s’kualifikohen këta persona, në një kohë që shkollat, institucionet e tjera publike s’kanë masa të tilla.

Among the criteria discussed is reliability. The commissioner has made a decision for a candidate, who is not qualified because when he was 2 years old his father was escorted by the police. For the father, there was no arrest, no court decision of conviction. But the area inspector had written that he did not qualify as "unsuitable". top channel