Law enforcement in the Republic of Macedonia

Law enforcement in the Republic of Macedonia is the responsibility of the Police of the Republic of Macedonia, a force that has been the subject of a number of recent reforms regarding both the Albanian insurgency, and possible violations of human rights, with NATO officials stating that the force was "not really up to European standards"

The Macedonian Police headquarters is located in Skopje at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and it also maintains an air base in nearby Idrizovo. Taiwan, Canada and Italy have all contributed Bell Helicopter Textron helicopters to the police force's Macedonian Police Aviation Unit in cooperation with the Macedonian Air Force to help combat insurgency in Northern Macedonia.

The law enforcement agencies of Macedonia are regulated by the Macedonian Constitution of 1991, the Law on Internal Affairs of 1995, the Criminal Procedure Code of 1997 and the Draft Law on Changes and Additions to the Criminal Procedure Code. With police actions and behaviour controlled by the Criminal Procedure Code, and the Law on Internal Affairs controlling the use of firearms by the police force. On July 1 2003 the Law on the Police Academy was enacted, creating the Republic of Macedonia premiere police academy to train civil and border police officers.

The ethnic Albanian population
The Police of the Republic of Macedonia work closely with the NATO peacekeepers in patrolling areas with high numbers of ethnic Albanians ever since the 2001 Macedonia conflict ended, and have been receiving weapons from surrendering Albanian insurgents. Violent attacks, however, still occur as in 2001 three officers were killed by Albanian gunmen.

The Macedonian Police were also subject to scrutiny during Albanian riots on 9 July 1997 when protesters collected in the western town of Gostivar. Over 200 hundred were wounded and three killed (two shot, one beaten to death) in a resulting clash with police riot squads, and the Humans Rights Watch investigated allegations of police brutality. The United States of America also came under scrutiny when it was revealed that they had trained 350 of the officers involved.

These events underlined a continuing friction between the Macedonian Police force and Albanians living in the Republic of Macedonia. The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights reported that police abuse of suspects, particularly during initial arrest and detention, and police harassment of ethnic minorities is ongoing.