To celebrate International Women's Day, we organised an event at the Police Academy in Tacen, Ljubljana, today, 8 March 2023, to symbolically extend our thanks to all our female colleagues.

The event, dedicated entirely to them, was attended by a number of female colleagues from various units of the Ministry of the Interior, the Police and the Inspectorate, as well as members of the wider College of the Director General of the Police and the Minister of the Interior.

The event was first addressed by the host of the event, Director General of the Police Senad Jušić, who congratulated his female colleagues on the occasion of 8 March and thanked them for their indispensable contribution to the police on his own behalf and on behalf of all his male colleagues. He stressed that with their knowledge, skills and abilities, female colleagues improve the profession, raise work standards, bring diversity to teams and give the police profession a different image – a more friendly and accessible one.

Minister of the Interior Boštjan Poklukar also addressed the gathering and congratulated all female colleagues on the occasion of International Women's Day. "I wish you every success in meeting all professional and personal challenges with courage, perseverance and determination also in the future. The demonstration of respect and recognition of the importance of equality should be present in our society throughout the year," said Mr Poklukar, thanking all female colleagues from the Ministry, the Police and the Internal Affairs Inspectorate for their contribution to the community and, above all, for their contribution to the work and the reputation of the institution.

The event was filled with music; the participants could listen to the beautiful melodies of the entire ensemble of our excellent orchestra, which had prepared a concert repertoire fitting for such an occasion as the honouring of our female colleagues. The orchestra was joined by two soloists, policewoman Klavdija Trnovšek and internationally renowned and acclaimed solo singer Martin Sušnik.

Women in the police in the past and present

As of 31 December 2023, i.e. the end of last year, 2,252 of the 8,162 employees in the police force were women. Of these, 1,366 were female police officers (including 201 female criminal investigators and two members of the Special Unit) and 886 were other female police employees.

The fairer sex began to make their way slowly and gradually into the police force already in the first half of the 20th century. Thus as early as 1936, during the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, we had the first Slovenian female police officer and the first female police officer in the whole of Yugoslavia. Among other things, she was responsible for the establishment of the Social Section within the criminal investigation department of the police.

The year 1973 was a major turning point in the recruitment and integration of women into the militia of the time. It was an important milestone for the police profession, which until then had been considered an entirely male profession. After that year, militiawomen joined the organisation and were employed at police stations all over Slovenia. They performed tasks equivalent to those of their male colleagues.

Today it is known that the contribution of women is indispensable for the existence of such a large organisation. Women, historically speaking, have made a long and arduous journey and have won important, inalienable rights in the process. As history teaches us, keeping it that way is a constant task for all and each of us.