11 July 2014
The Institute for Democracy and Mediation, Tirana (IDM) in cooperation with the Parliamentary Committee on National Security of Albania (PCNS) organized on 11 July 2014, at Hotel Grand, Tirana, a round table concerning the Law on Private Security Companies (PSCs), submitted by the Council of Ministers to the Parliament for adoption. This event organized by IDM, is the fifth one, as part of a project supported by Geneva Centre for Democratic Control of the Armed Forces (DCAF) focused on and providing expertise in strengthening of the effective parliamentary oversight and control over the Security Sector in Albania.
The round table was opened by Mr Sotiraq Hroni, IDM Executive Director, who underlined the fact that, actually the private security sector in Albania – considering its expansion and experience gained over the last decade – has become a significant security factor in crime prevention and more generally, in improving the security environment in Albania. Afterwards, the event went on in two panels. The first panel focused on legal aspects of the new law on PSCs, while the second one, focused on the issues mostly related to ways and means of a better oversight and control of the PSCs.
In Panel I, the ASP representative, Mr Dhimitraq Ziu, provided a short overview of the new Law. Firstly, it sets clear criteria on physical, intellectual and legal capabilities of the leading personnel of this service as a prerequisite for the licensing and certification procedures. On the other hand, the new Law puts some stronger standards and tightens the measures related to training and testing of the private security personnel, especially concerning their level of weaponry mastering and related legal framework knowledge.
Panel II focused on the issues related oversight and control of the PSCs. Mr Arian Dyrmishi raised the issue that the former law of 2001, mostly sought to formalize legally a situation already in place, concerning PSCs. As a consequence, it reflected several weaknesses, firstly of conceptual nature.
