Author: Denis Tahiri
Put in search of security cameras on every street, business and private property, the State Police insists that they are cutting the threads of the crime. Therefore, the several-week operation is coded with this name. Asked by "Sinjalizo", the press office of the central police declares the high amount of dismantled cameras and referrals to the prosecutor's offices of the judicial districts. For the period from January 15 to February 3, the State Police specifies that "A total of 508 cameras were dismantled and seized, where 220 cameras were dismantled in Tirana, 37 in Elbasan, 79 cameras were dismantled in Shkodër, 9 in Lezhë, 54 cameras were dismantled in Durrës, 26 cameras in Vlorë, 54 cameras in Korçë, 20 cameras have been dismantled in Fier, 3 in Gjirokastër and 6 in Dibër".
For the police, this operation is part of a new long-term strategy in the fight against crime. But no light is shed on in what aspect the crime is being fought, despite the fact that among the names referred to there are known protagonists of crime in cities such as Shkodra, Tirana, Elbasan, Vlora and Durrës.
State Police: Investigation of 101 citizens for installing cameras
Operation "Fijet" according to the blue uniforms, aims to protect the privacy of citizens as well as to cut off the opportunities of the criminal contingent to be supplied with information.
"One of the components of this strategy is the control for the correct implementation of the law no. 19/2016 "On additional measures of public safety", since the analysis has shown that there is a misinterpretation of this law, for the installation of security cameras. In this context, citizens, but also citizens with a criminal record, have installed cameras, violating the right to privacy of other citizens". the General Directorate of the State Police officially states, where it adds that in-depth investigations have been initiated for 101 citizens, a part of them are citizens with a criminal record for various criminal activities.
For 101 Albanian citizens, who have had security cameras installed, the police has launched an in-depth investigation for the criminal offense of "Unjust interference in private life", but according to experts, this criminal offense will be "overturned" by the justice authorities.
"The misuse of the camera must be proven", says lawyer Jordan Daci, who adds that the expertise should be done, the angle from which the camera was directed should be looked at. "Now I say I've driven it from home, you moved it, practically you can't prove it. 99.9% goes down as an accusation. They will take him to the prosecutor's office once and I don't believe the prosecutor will take him further." says Mr. Daci for "Signalizo".
The lawyer Arbër Hoxha is of the same opinion, who says that the accusation does not stand. "The first, interference in private life, starts on the basis of a complaint by the victim, that is to say, if you feel violated in your private life, you must file a report with the prosecutor's office, the police, etc. and if the prosecutor interrogates you, you must keep a the record that is called the injured party's question and is the injured party's complaint, so if there is no complaint from the injured party, it cannot be followed mainly without the need for the injured party's complaint".he says, adding that there are certain crimes in the criminal procedure code that are prosecuted based on the complaint of the victim and this is one of them.
"In Article 59 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, this proceeding cannot be initiated by the prosecutor, but by the accusing victim who assumes the attributes of the prosecutor in court and has the burden of proof and according to Article 59, the prosecutor is a party to the trial but is not the main one, the accusing victim is the main one", concludes Mr. Hoxha, adding that he cannot initiate a proceeding for Article 121 of the Criminal Code.
On the other hand, the lawyer Jordan Daci says about the installation of the cameras that they are simply administrative offenses: "It's the Enhanced Security Act, and it says deployment, not removal. As a rule, the police have the right to remove them for security reasons, but they are at the level of an administrative offense, there is no criminal offense. he concludes.
Security expert Softa: The police action had 2 mistakes
"The State Police, like never before, has shown courage by intervening in one of the points of the forms of technology in the function of crime". says Professor Ervin Karamuço for "Sinjalizo", adding that the fragmented way and the operational stages with which this operation was organized has lowered expectations for the discovery of the entire infrastructure and the real authors of illegal cameras.
Even the security expert Fatjon Softa, asked by "Sinjalizo" about the actions of the police, said that; "As for the way the intervention was carried out, it was definitely wrong and continues to be wrong". he says, adding that the action had two mistakes. "First, the removal of cameras in a brutal way, i.e. not by expert people, which if the police had not needed to use them, could have led to the protection of schools, kindergartens, nurseries or other public facilities. Second, it gave the opportunity to other groups from the moment of the signal in Shkodër, from Tirana, Vlora and wherever the action continues, to sever their connections, remove the evidence. So we removed the eye of the cameras but we did not go to the servers and the fact that the cameras when removed only has a negative effect, since in most cases all the events are detected by the cameras. From those cameras of Albanian citizens", he says.
For the professor of criminology, Karamuço, the mistake of the police forces lay in the lack of simultaneous actions throughout the territory to remove the cameras, accompanied by proactive preliminary investigations to discover the servers, monitors, observers and organizers. "The police justify this inaction with the lack of human resources, but I think there may be other reasons that I don't want to allude to." says Mr. Karamuço, adding that after the removal of illegal cameras, the police should hurry to add public security cameras, as the only benefit to regain control of the areas that until yesterday were observed only by people with a criminal record.
The General Directorate of the State Police says to "Sinjalizo" that: "Pursuant to law no. 19/2016 "On additional public security measures", the State Police has accurate evidence for private entities that have installed cameras. The on-site inspection continues, as the re-check of the entire territory in terms of the placement of cameras is part of this operation". Meanwhile, according to this law, the police should have a register of all security cameras installed in our country by private entities.
"There is a national registration register for security cameras according to the law, but in relation to the national number of cameras located throughout the territory there is a very reduced number", says Professor Karamuço. Meanwhile, for security expert Fatjon Softa, there can be no record of how long "in all the incidents that have happened, the police officers come to the neighborhood where the person passed on a street or alley and the police officers roam street to street looking with their naked eyes to see where the cameras are and who has them on them contacted the person".
"I've always said it." says Mr. Softa: "that a digital register had to be created for the cameras invested by private individuals, despite the fact that then private individuals will share them with criminal purposes or with preventive purposes for the preservation of property, housing, etc." he says.
