Special Police Units (Serbia)


The Special Police Units or Police Special Units was a special police force unit of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Serbia. It had several detachments and was part of the sector of the State Security Service. It was disbanded on Vidovdan in 2001 when it was replaced by the re-establishment of the Gendarmery.
Between 1994 and 1996 it was commanded by Obrad Stevanović. During the Kosovo War, the force had an estimated 5,000 or 7,000 men. The PJP detachments were based at Belgrade, Novi Sad, Kragujevac, Užice, Niš and Priština. It is believed that it was commanded by Obrad Stevanović, now the head of police. Its elite unit was the "Lightning" unit, according to M. McAllester partly made up of "some of Yugoslavia's most dangerous criminals". Among other special units active in the war was the Special Anti-Terrorist Unit, a separate part of the MUP.