In February 2023, the State Police announced that 300 vacancies for police officers have been opened. Candidates had to appear until March 15 at each directorate to submit the documents.
But one of the criteria was that these candidates should be up to 30 years old. This and several other criteria for health status, wearing glasses, tattoos or even “reliability” have disqualified hundreds of candidates, most of them qualified, who had graduated from a university or even excelled.
Dozens of people complained to the newsroom of the investigative show, who complained about the most exclusionary criterion; age up to 30 years! This criterion has been opposed before by a multitude of institutions, by the Commissioner for Protection from Discrimination, the People’s Advocate or even by the State Police Union itself. “Setting the age of 30 years is an open violation of the law and the constitution, a citizen’s right to compete even over the age of 30 years is taken away,” Satedin Fisha, the head of the State Police Union, stated earlier. According to him, “it is the other criteria, the physical tests, that make the selection of the physical abilities that each individual has to compete, not age”. However, again, the State Police in the February notice writes that the age limit is up to 30 years old!
Meanwhile, even the recruitments in the Prison Police had an age criterion of up to 35 years. But, in a public appearance, the Minister of Justice Ulsi Manja removed this criterion, opening the way for anyone to run. “They removed the age criterion for admission to the Prison Police for candidates up to 35 years old. There are decisions of the Constitutional Court, the European Court of Human Rights that determine that the age criterion is discriminatory. We have a very large number of vacancies”, said Minister Manja.
Fiks Fare inquired at the State Police about this criterion, where we received an answer that the decision was taken by the Ministry of the Interior. The Ministry of the Interior itself claims that they were “forced” by the law on the State Police. So, there is a clash between them but which is actually harming hundreds of potential candidates for police officers, who are highly qualified, to become part of it.
After these answers, the candidates and Fiks journalists were interested in the Police Directorate of Tirana to register. Some candidates who were filling out the documents claim that the age of up to 30 years is an essential criterion. According to them, they cannot run if they are over 30 years old. On the other hand, an employee who accepts the documents, tells Fiksi that the age criterion “was set by the Minister of the Interior”.
Fiks Fare journalists talk with Mr. Robert Gajda, Commissioner for Protection from Discrimination. He says that the Commissioner came out with a decision in 2021 about the age criterion, which is discriminatory. He further adds that “you cannot deny the right to employment to people over 30 years old and the excuses of the police needing young people fall away because the candidates undergo theoretical and physical tests”.
The commissioner further adds that, although there are a series of decisions that have been upheld by the court, the Ministry of the Interior and the State Police have not taken them into account, since the admission criteria in 2023 are the same as the previous ones. , disqualifying qualified and excellent people.
Gajda claims that there are some other criteria which are discriminatory, such as candidates with glasses. “Even these candidates are discriminated against, since despite their qualifications they are not qualified”, he says.
He also claims that the criterion of people who have Hepatitis B is discriminatory. The Law of the State Police categorically prohibits them, but an exchange letter between the Commissioner and the PIH stipulates that not every person who carries this virus can spread it. He says that you cannot write that these people are not qualified, at a time when schools and other public institutions do not have such measures.
Among the criteria discussed is reliability. The commissioner has made a decision for a candidate, who is not qualified because when he was 2 years old his father was escorted by the police. For the father, there was no arrest, no court decision of conviction. But the area inspector had written that he did not qualify as “unsuitable”.
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