EULEX Kosovo Police Component

The Police Component is part of the overall EULEX support to the Kosovo authorities in the rule of law area. We assist the Kosovo Police (KP) in working towards a multi-ethnic police that is free from political interference and serves the people of Kosovo.

We do this by monitoring, mentoring and advising the KP. Therefore, EULEX police officers is co-located with their KP counterparts. As we respect the principle of local ownership EULEX police officers mainly act in a supportive role. The KP, not EULEX, is in the lead.

Our mandate also enables us to use corrective powers. But we are only to intervene in exceptional cases; for instance when the Kosovo authorities fail to prevent violence against non-majority communities or when there is political interference undermining the rule of law. I hope that these powers will only be used rarely.

The EULEX Police Component has a total strength of approximately 1.400 International police officers, deployed all over Kosovo. The personnel are structured according to their respective tasks in three departments: Strengthening Department, Executive Police Department and Special Police Department.

Ole Madsen Head of Police Component		Anne Blanksma Press and Public Information Officer (Police)