Death itself is inevitable - but there are those who surprise people! Retired police colonel Srđan Grekulović, former commander of the Gendarmerie, died suddenly on Tuesday at the age of 63.
A man who was a model of an honest and honorable policeman, and went through all the steps, battlefields, ups and downs in the Service.
He was more than a friend to me, he was a friend, and an advisor for many things that I did not understand very well in relations in the police, and he explained them to me. Although he avoided the media, he once spoke for "Vreme", about sending a detachment of the Serbian Ministry of Interior to the Republika Srpska.
We had many told stories, but also untold ones, such as the operation in the Kosovo village of Racak in January 1999, which he planned and designed in detail, and others took credit for it.
"Let it go, comrade, that's how it is, don't mention me now, you, I, and a few other people from the Staff know that. I just miss being chased," he said during our morning coffees and teas in the cafe in Novi Beograd block 38, where he lived.
From Sremska Kamenica to the Military Academy
Grekulović, part of the proud lineage of the Serbian nation - Vlach, born in 1962 in Kladovo, went to the "militia" school in Sremska Kamenica (a child from a poor family, parents don't have to pay for schooling), graduated in 1981, and then, as a prospect, because it was seen that, unlike the others, he could also use his brain instead of a baton, in 1984 he was sent to study at the Military Academy. He finished it in 1988 and became, as the "most educated", the assistant commander of the militia station in Kladovo, and from 1990 to 1993 he was the commander of the militia station in Požarevac, and from then until 1995 he held the position of chief.
To the question "how did they choose you for the Military Academy, because there was a quota from each republic", Grex (that's his nickname from the police) answered with: "Jbg, there was a commission at the time, which looked at who was tough and not obedient. Professional people. That's how I looked at the selection for members of the Gendarmerie."
After his stay in Kosovo, in 1995 he transferred to the Directorate of the MUP Police, and became the commander of the 36th PJP detachment, with whom he went through all the combat operations and the hell they went through.
After withdrawing from Kosovo in June 1999, when he was the assistant commander of the PJP, he transferred in 2001 to the newly formed Gendarmerie, where he was the assistant commander until 2006, and from then until 2008, the commander of the Belgrade detachment of that formation.
Each of our stories about that period from June 11, 1999, ends in silence. It hurt him, that capitulation. And he carried it in himself, until his death.
Old-fashioned policeman
In 2008, he was appointed deputy commander of the Gendarmerie, then commander, and then in 2011 he was "promoted" to the assistant director of the police - a position to keep someone out of the way.
But, when it was necessary to settle the situation in some police departments, whose chiefs were already mired in "combinations" with the criminal cartel of the Serbian Progressive Party, he was sent to be the head of the Police Department - Zaječar, Jagodina Niš, and he was uncompromising.
There was no compromise with the old-fashioned policeman. He talked about it in rare meetings on the weekend: "Comrade, I first find out who they are, from which families, and some operative cannot write me false information, when I know more than him."
He remained on the post of assistant director of the police until early retirement "according to the needs of the service", at the end of December 2015. His boss, Milorad Veljović, is still in office today - advisor to the President of the Republic for security.
Grekulović never wanted or tried to explain those things, his attitude was "I was and always will be a policeman, I have nothing to speculate on, I have facts and evidence if someone asks for them".
See you later, buddy.
Grekulović gave his first and only public performance interview for "Vreme", because of the author he knows and the magazine he trusts (although he does not agree with the views of the people who speak).
And the interview had a resonance.
"My friend, I believe you, no matter where or for whom you publish," he said.
And now, instead of an obituary, I say: "Friend, see you".
He had one unfulfilled promise left, on the subject of Kosovo in 1998 and 1999. He said: "I'm retired, I have time..."
Last goodbye, friend!
