Whistleblowing the police horn for democracy
Between January and December 2024, APADOR-CH will contribute to amending the legislation and practice of the police and gendarmerie, for the inclusion and recognition of the role of whistleblowers in the proper functioning of the two institutions.
In 2021, a study on the status of whistle-blowers in Romania showed that the legal framework of the Romanian Police and Gendarmerie as well as their internal regulations forbid the public communication of anything that may “damage the image of the institution”. For years, this has allowed the disciplinary sanctioning and even dismissal of police officers who have publicly criticized certain deficiencies related to the activity and organization of the police/gendarmerie on grounds that their revelations have negatively affected the institution’s prestige.
Despite mass media as well as civil society organizations exposures, this practice continues to happen although both the old whistle-blower legislation as well as the new law provide that employees who make disclosures in the public interest cannot be held accountable for disclosures of violations of the law made in good faith. Leaders of police trade unions claim they are particularly targeted and vulnerable to management abuse, in order to “set an example” and discourage future whistle-blowers.
Following a national tragedy, in august 2023, the newly appointed Minister of Internal Affairs announced a Police reform which would enhance its accountability and integrity. Currently, both the Police and Gendarmerie laws are subject to public debate at the government level and will be sent to the Parliament in the months that follow. This represents a favourable political context for civil society advocacy to amend these laws in order to make them compliant with the EU Directive 2019/1937 on the protection of whistle-blowers, to monitor their practical implementation and to raise awareness- through trainings for police officers and gendarmes- on the procedures and protection measures they provide.
The general objective of this project is to contribute to corruption prevention and increased accountability in two law enforcement agencies in Romania: The Police and the Gendarmerie:
- Promote the correct transposition and implementation of the EU 2019/1937 Whistleblower Directive at the level of the Romanian Police and Gendarmerie
- Increase the level of knowledge and understanding of the role of whistleblowers at the level of the Romanian Police and Gendarmerie, in cooperation with independent national whistleblowing authorities and public order training institutes
Legal analysis will be carried out on the compliance of Law 360/2002 on the statute of the police officer and Law 80/1995 on the status of military personnel (including Gendarmerie) with the new law on the protection of whistle-blowers. This legal analysis will be used to advocate for the amendment of the two laws during the 2024 Parliamentary legislative process and also during advocacy meetings with the Romanian Police, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Gendarmerie and MPs (at least 6 bilateral meetings, both in Bucharest and Timisoara). â
APADOR-CH will also monitor the practical implementation of whistleblowing rules and procedures in all police stations throughout the country and at the level of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In this regard, an implementation analysis document will also be carried out. The conclusions and recommendations of the analysis as well as the project activities will be discussed during a Bucharest roundtable final event (with the participation of at least 20 offline stakeholders).
Two trainings will be carried out for 60 police officers and gendarmes in Bucharest and Timisoara. The organization and delivery of these trainings will be done in cooperation with the Institute for Public Order Studies (ISOP) as well as the National Integrity Agency (ANI)-the designated national whistleblowing authority which acts both as an external reporting channel as well as resource centre for whistle-blowers). Trade union leaders as well as women police officers will be particularly targeted by these trainings.
This is the journal of the project.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or The Netherlands Helsinki Committee.
Neither the European Union nor the granting authority (the NHC) can be held responsible for them.
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