The Best and the Worst of the Police in Bosnia and Herzegovina

1. Reduced Rate of Criminal Offenses in BiH

The rate of criminal offenses in 2015 was reduced by 12% in relation to 2014. The positive fact is that the number of solved crimes in the Republika Srpska was above 95 percent, while in the Federation of BiH was 90 percent.

 2. A Chance for Better Cooperation among Police Agencies in BIH

Agreement on mutual support and operational cooperation between police agencies in BiH was signed in March 2016 among the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) and police institutions at the cantonal level, in Federation of BiH and the Republika Srpska.

3. Increased Transparency for Employment

The Ministry of the Interior of the Zenica-Doboj Canton granted media representatives access to all stages of the implementation of the program of recruiting hundreds of new police officers in the initial rank.

4. Forum for Better Cooperation between Police and Prosecution

The Ministry of Interior and Prosecutor’s Office in the Republika Srpska signed a protocol for the creation of the Forum for Cooperation. The Forum should improve cooperation between these institutions through information exchange.

5. First Android Application Build

The Ministry of Interior of Republika Srpska developed an Android application where citizens have the opportunity to report criminal offenses, misdemeanors, corruption, have an insight into the state of personal documents, penalties, and other services.

1. Armed Raid of Daily Newspaper by the SIPA

The raid of SIPA officers into the daily newspaper “Dnevni Avaz”, where they carried out a search based on the Prosecutor’s Office order, has been characterized as a brutal show of force against journalists and editors.

2. The Careless and Untimely Performance of Border Police 

Sanjin Sefić (25) killed two girls on the zebra crossing in Sarajevo in October 2016. The Border Police at Uvac checkpoint allowed him to freely pass to Serbia despite the information which was sent to all border stations in case that Sefić tries to leave the country.

3. Lack of Human Resources Burdens Public Procurements in the Police

The police institutions and agencies in BIH, particularly those with thousands of employees, only have 2 or 3 personnel working on public procurement. In such conditions, the planning of public procurement is a very difficult task for every policing agency.

4. Non-effective Police-to-Citizen Communication

Most police institutions’ official websites do not provide adequate information on the by-laws or strategic documents that are important for monitoring the development of police integrity.

5. Poor Cooperation between the Police and Prosecution

The system for electronic data exchange between the police officers and prosecutors does not function properly. The practice of shifting responsibility from one actor to another because of the lack of results in certain areas concerns.