Gendarmery (Serbia)

The Gendarmery (Serbian Cyrillic: Жандармерија) is an armed police force of the Serbian police. It was formed on 28 June 2001, after the disbandment of the Special Police Units (PJP). Gendarmery in Serbia existed in previous form from 1860 to 1920. As a special unit inside Serbian police, its role can be compared to those of Russian OMON and former Ukrainian Berkut units.

Gendarmery Жандармерија Žandarmerija
Gendarmery badge
Gendarmery flag
Agency overview
Formed	28 June 1860 (current form since 2001)
Preceding agency	Special Police Units
Employees	3,734 (2012)[1]
Jurisdictional structure
National agency	Serbia
Operations jurisdiction	Serbia
Governing body	Government of Serbia
Operational structure
Overviewed by	Ministry of Internal Affairs
Headquarters	Belgrade
Elected minister responsible	Nebojša Stefanović
Agency executive	Dejan Luković, Commander
Website
Official website

As of 2017, Gendarmery consists of about 2,800 members. The Command of the Gendarmery is in Belgrade.[2]

The gendarmery's duties are both civilian and military, including securing the 'Ground Safety Zone'[3] along the administrative line with Kosovo and providing disaster rescue teams (see below).[4]

History

Serbian gendarmery officers, 1865

The word žandarmerija is a French loanword ("gendarmerie"), and is pronounced "zhandarmeriya". The Žandarmerija corps date back to the Principality of Serbia, established on June 28, 1860, and originally consisted of 120 officers. It was disbanded after World War II and was restored in 2001 by the reorganization of the irregular "Special Police Unit" (Posebna Jedinica Policije, PJP).[2] This was accomplished by an act issued by the Minister of Interior Dušan Mihajlović. One of its first major assignments was capturing the suspects in the assassination of prime minister Zoran Đinđić.

On 7 May 2003, the Counter-Terrorist Unit (CTU) was established within Gendarmery, but was separated in April 2007 to become an independent unit within the Police.[5]

In 2005 the Person and Infrastructure Protection Unit was established, to carry out close protection tasks, as well as activities related to technical protection.[5][2]

In 2011 the Gendarmery was reorganized and the First Quick Response Detachment was established, consisting of the specialist companies of all Gendarmery detachments along with the Diving Center.[5]

Commanders

Since its establishment, the Serbian Gendarmery has had six Commanders:[2][6]

No.		Commander	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Minister of Internal Affairs
1		Radosavljević, GoranColonel Goran Radosavljević (born 1957)	28 June 2001	17 August 2004	3 years, 50 days	Dušan Mihajlović Dragan Jočić
2		Tešić, BorivojeColonel Borivoje Tešić (born 1956)	17 August 2004	23 June 2008	3 years, 311 days	Dragan Jočić
-		Grekulović, SrđanColonel Srđan Grekulović (born 1962) Acting	23 June 2008	3 June 2009	345 days	Dragan Jočić Ivica Dačić
3		Dikić, BratislavColonel Bratislav Dikić (born 1970)	3 June 2009	17 July 2013	4 years, 44 days	Ivica Dačić
-		Božović, MilenkoColonel Milenko Božović (born 1965) Acting	17 July 2013	2 August 2013	16 days	Ivica Dačić
4		Božović, MilenkoColonel Milenko Božović (born 1965)	2 August 2013	13 March 2015	1 year, 223 days	Ivica Dačić Nebojša Stefanović
5		Dragović, GoranColonel Goran Dragović (born 1967)	13 March 2015	2 August 2018	3 years, 142 days	Nebojša Stefanović
6		Luković, DejanColonel Dejan Luković	2 August 2018	Incumbent	2 years, 15 days	Nebojša Stefanović

Organization

Gendarmery members

In 2012, the Serbian Gendarmery consisted of about 3,734 members,[7] while in 2017 the strength is estimated at about 2,800 members.[2]

Alongside the operational detachments deployed through Serbia, the Gendarmery has some specialized units: the Diving Unit and the Personnel and Infrastructure Protection Unit, which is specialized in tasks of physical and technical protection.[2]

Detachments

The principal bases are located in Belgrade, Niš, Novi Sad and Kraljevo.[2]

Detachments are organized as independent units in order to be able to execute every-day duties on their territory of jurisdiction. Should the need arise, each detachment may quickly support others throughout Serbia.[2]

First Quick Detachment

Within each operational detachment, a company-sized specialized unit is tasked to deal with most complex tasks in both urban and rural environment. In turn, each specialized unit consists of several counter-terrorist teams, which may be reinforced by sniper, K9 and explosive ordnance disposal assets when needed.[2] Since 2011, specialized units are grouped within the First Quick Detachment.[5] The first commander was Police Lieutenant Colonel Vojkan Ivanovic.[5]

Diving Unit

The Diving Unit of the Serbian Gendarmery is headquartered in Belgrade and is intended for conducting special actions in environments dominated by water, as well as the land area near water.[2] Its operational element consists of three specialist teams: intervention team, searching team and nautical team.[5]

The Diving Unit tracks its origins to 1997, when it was established within the Special Operation Unit.[5]

Mission

Its main duties are:

• Restoring peace and stability if they have been heavily disturbed
• Counter terrorism
• Countering violent groups
• Repressing prison riots

Its civil duties include: to provide security and public peace, to investigate and prevent organized crime, terrorism and other violent groups; to protect state and private property; to help and assist civilians and other emergency forces in a case of emergency, natural disaster, civil unrest and armed conflicts.

Its military duties include to provide, preserve and protect security and public peace, public order, to protect state and private property, to assist other security forces in case of emergency, civil unrest, war; to repress riots; to reinforce martial law and mobilization; to fight and apprehend suspected criminals, terrorists and other violent groups ;

Its additional duties are to perform any duties decreed in the decrees of law and regulations other than civil, military and other duties and the duties given by the governmental decrees based on them.

Equipment

Firearms

Name	Country	Caliber	Notes
CZ 99	Serbia	9×19 Parabellum	In use also CZ999
Glock 17	Austria	9×19 Parabellum	In use Glock 17 Gen 3
SIG Sauer P 220	Switzerland	9×19 Parabellum
Amadeo Rossi	Brasil	357. Magnum	For training purposes
Smith&Wesson	U.S.	357. Magnum	For training purposes
Zastava R83	Serbia	357. Magnum	For training purposes
HK MP5	Germany	9×19 Parabellum	In use A2,A3,SD3,K versions
Zastava M92	Serbia	7.62×39
Zastava M84 Škorpion	Yugoslavia	7.65×17	Personal Defense Weapon
Zastava M70	Yugoslavia/Serbia	7.62×39	In use AB1,AB2 and modernised ABX versions
Zastava M21	Serbia	5.56×45 NATO
MPi-KM	East Germany	7.62×39
Colt M4	U.S.	5.56×45 NATO	A4 Commando version in use
Zastava M76	Yugoslavia	7.92×57
Zastava M91	Serbia	7.62×54R
Steyr	Austria	7.62×51 NATO	Tactical Elite
HK G3	Germany	7.62×51 NATO
HK G33	Germany	5.56×45 NATO
SIG Sauer 716	Switzerland	7.62×51 NATO
Zastava M93	Serbia	12.7×108
Barrett M82	U.S.	12.7×99 NATO
Barrett M95	U.S.	12.7×99 NATO	Bullpup sniper rifle
Zastava M84	Yugoslavia/Serbia	7.62×54R
Browning M2	U.S.	12.7×99 NATO	Mounted only on vehicles
Zastava M93	Serbia	30mm	Automatic granade launcher

Vehicles

Model	Image	Origin	Type	Variant	Number	Details
BOV		Serbia	Armored personal carrier	BOV M15	20	Armed with 12.7mm RWS
BOV		Serbia	Armored personal carrier	BOV M11	20	Armed with 12.7mm RWS
BOV		Yugoslavia	Armored personal carrier	BOV M86	20	Armed with 14.5mm KPVT heavy machine gun
BOV		Yugoslavia	anti-aircraft	BOV-3		SPAAG with triple M55A4B1 20mm cannon
BOV M16		Serbia	Armoured multi-purpose combat vehicle	BOV M16 Miloš		Armed with 12.7mm RWS
Lazar armored vehicle		Serbia	Armored personal carrier	Lazar-3	12	Armed with 12.7mm RWS
Saxon		United Kingdom	Armored personal carrier	AT105 Saxon	1	Armed with 12.7mm Zastava M02 Coyote
Praga		Czechoslovakia	Anti-aircraft	M53/59 Praga	3	Armed with 30 mm twin AA autocannon
SPAT 30/2		Yugoslavia	Anti-aircraft	SPAT 30/2	4	Self-propelled anti-aircraft gun 2x30mm Foka based on BVP M-80 hull
AIFV		United States	Infantry fighting vehicle	YPR-765	1	YPR-765 seized from Dutch UN peacekeepers in the Bosnian War
TAM		Yugoslavia	Riot control vehicle	TAM 110		Riot trucks
TAM		Yugoslavia	Armoured personnel carrier	TAM 110		Ris armored truck
TAM		Yugoslavia	Military truck	TAM 150		T11 truck
Humvee		United States	All-wheel-drive vehicle	HMMWV		American-made Hummers procured via Cyprus used by former Special Operations Unit
Land Rover		United Kingdom	All-wheel-drive vehicle	Land Rover Defender
Sevel		Italy		Fiat Ducato
Yamaha		Japan	ATV	Kodiak 700
Toyota		Japan		Toyota Land Cruiser
Škoda		Czech Republic		Škoda Rapid

See also

• Law enforcement in Serbia

References

1. "Novi odred Žandarmerije sličan JSO". b92.net (in Serbian). 24 January 2012. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
2. Jevtic, Milos (13 January 2017). "Serbian Gendarmerie". Spec Ops Magazine. Retrieved 10 July 2018.
3. B92. "Interior minister in Ground Safety Zone". www.b92.net. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
4. "Nadležnosti" [Duties]. Ministry of the Interior, Republic of Serbia (in Serbian). Archived from the original on 9 February 2016. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
5. "Gendarmerie of the Republic of Serbia". specijalne-jedinice.com. Retrieved 10 July 2018.
6. "Serbian ministries, etc". rulers.org. B. Schemmel. Retrieved 14 August 2018.
7. "Novi odred Žandarmerije sličan JSO" (in Serbian). B92. 24 January 2012. Retrieved 3 August 2013.

External links

• Official Žandarmerija of the Ministry of Internal Affairs
• Short video about Žandarmerija
• "Nadležnosti" [Duties]. Ministry of the Interior, Republic of Serbia (in Serbian)