Better with the police than with the party

2024-10-10 09:59:00, Opinione Besnik Bakiu

Better with the police than with the party

General Directorate of the State Police

A few days ago I was invited to speak at the promotion of the book of my professor and friend, Bajram Yzeiraj, "A life with the State Police". The promotion took place at the Academy of Sciences, as it belonged to my esteemed professor. The interest was great, the hall was overflowing, colleagues and former colleagues, political personalities (former prime ministers, former ministers) and representatives of high state and public bodies, justice bodies, current leaders of the State Police had come. , journalists, friends and relatives of the author. Even the president and vice president of the Academy of Sciences were present. This ceremony also had a beautiful coincidence, since the author, in addition to the joy of his newest publication, also had his birthday, he was 75 years old. Professor Bajrami, as always, even in the distributed invitations (as he himself said at this ceremony) is true and uncompromising, as he had not invited any of those (who, although he had worked), did not deserve to be.

The book that was promoted, "A life with the State Police" (Confessions of the Chief of Police) is conceived as a book that narrates in an autobiographical form, the author's personal journey together with the society and organization of the State Police, through 40 or so years in times too hard to allow you to be a good statesman, knight of the law, and patriot. After reading this book, today I say out loud that the author has succeeded in being one. The reader who browses the pages of this book, written by a personality who dedicated his whole life to security, policing, and community issues, will be familiar with many events that Albanian society and especially the Police have gone through in these periods of its development. The book is written in a simple and easily understandable language, where you find many commemorations and summaries of concrete events from 1970 to the present day. The linear narrative of this work starts from the time of childhood and includes the difficult journey of an individual who seems to have been born to always swim against the current, which has been strong, rushing and relentless. It is the indisputable merit of Professor Bajram that at no point in his life and activity has he compromised with the anti-law, fear and injustice. He reflects this with his difficult commitments, with his activity to protect not only the order and safety of citizens, but also his own dignity, that of his colleagues and the entire Police organization. Better with the Police than with the party - was my professor's motto.

With the publication of this book, which in itself is also the journey of the State Police institution, the author presents himself as a citizen and as a multidimensional activist, with conscience and respect for history. He also feels this as a responsibility and duty, for today and for the future. With this publication, the author has the merit of publishing documents and special literature dedicated to the main events and happenings of the time, and has even penetrated to the right extent into the lives and characters of the characters of the time. He did this in order to give the full dimensions and human characters, which are often the keys to understanding and explaining the events or even the enigmas around them. The author has managed to overcome personal boundaries and become an archival reality within the great fabric of the history of Albanian society in these years.

My esteemed professor, as a machine of truth, has the courage to give the true name he deserves to every character he has contacted, or has been forced to cooperate with, whether he is a politician, senior statesman or police chief. As one of his contemporaries and associates over a considerable period of time, I fully agree with these stipulations. The author in this book, as a statesman and ideologue, continues to this day to live in the pulse of the Police. He is not satisfied with what he has experienced, but with the responsibility of the profession, he continues to research and give suggestions on security policies and issues, on change management and suggests what needs to be changed. Reading about one's triumphs, joys, struggles and losses is a learning experience in itself, and books like this have a unique value: they are not just fictional stories or figments of the imagination, but true accounts that positively and powerfully affect to every reader. With this publication, the author has achieved the goal of giving the reader not a "heavy", academic-style book, overloaded with analyzes and hypotheses, but a narrative selected from his personal experience and from the study of many sources and archival documents of the time, which he used in detail. This makes it easy and engaging to read. The book is not simply a historical chronology of events accompanying the development of Albanian society in general and the State Police in particular. It is also an extraordinary gallery of historical figures of the last 40 or so years in politics and the Albanian state.

If the writing of books is often inspired by ideas and particular books, this book was born from real circumstances and dramatic events during the overthrow of a regime and the rise of a new state. In the end, I cannot but underline the personal stamp of the author's historical journey, and here he brings an innovation that originates in his culture as a teacher. In the book, in many cases, you find moments of combining the historical description with his personal experiences, about the events years later and up to our days. It creates an organic connection between history and the present, makes the past and its characters speak to the present time and its problems. Before I close, I can't help but mention the professor's pledge to the silence that accompanied his retirement from the State Police, apologizing and feeling complicit (not guilty). Bajram Yzeraj, with his very diverse career, from A to ZH, from police officer at enforcement level to senior police leader, academy director to minister and deputy minister, has left his mark. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated case in this organization, so I take the opportunity, believing that I speak on behalf of Professor Bajram, to appeal to the new leaders of the Ministry of the Interior and the General Directorate of the State Police:

- Become lawyers and not prosecutors of the organization and its employees , building preventive and non-punitive policies, since in my opinion, the State Police (with all the many problems it has) in these 30 or so years is the best organization in Albanian society and its employees are the most dedicated to the task as well as the most self-sacrificing.

-Fight to give all the rights recognized and given by law to police officers.

-Try to become as communal as possible among yourselves in this organization , standing by each other in good and bad ; at the beginning of work, career progression and retirement; at birth, date of birth or death, gestures that would make our organization even more humane.

- Do not listen to the "sirens" of Odyssey, but verify the facts and confront every opinion and every malicious whisper against the employees of the State Police.

-Try to create the most dignified conditions of the legal framework and working environments for police officers , not only for salaries and uniforms, but also for qualifications and job positions, and anything else that seems to be small, but that they it gives them dignity.

In conclusion, I want to express my thanks to the publishing house "Naimi" and my friend Naim Zoto, (who was also the first editor-in-chief of the newspaper "ALBAPOL") for the special care in the publication of this book.

Long live Professor!