Abstract
The Ministry of the Interior of Republika Srpska is a police agency, which is one of the two entities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This chapter explores the police organization, structure and function, crime and disorder trends in the last 20 years, police training and police educational systems, changes in policing in the last 20 years, current trends in policing, media, and public opinion on police, recent trends in research on policing, and future developments in policing in Republika Srpska. Research show that the Ministry of the Interior of Republika Srpska has reached a high level of organizational and structural development in the last 20 years. Professionalization, modernization, and police democratization have contributed to the new quality of the Ministry of the Interior of Republika Srpska, and thus to the safety of Republika Srpska and Bosnia and Herzegovina in general. However, the analysis of the current situation identifies the need for the introduction of modern methods of strategic management, defining priorities and programs in key areas, improving accountability, transparency, and developing cooperation and partnership with the public and other parties.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Bosnia and Herzegovina was one of the six republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Bosnia and Herzegovina spreads on 51,209,2 km2. According to the last census in 1991, there were 4,377,033 people—43.48 % Muslims/Bosniaks, 31.18 % Serbs, 17.36 % Croats, 5.52 % Yugoslavs, and 2.56 % other ethnic groups (Zavod za statistiku Republike Bosne i Hercegovine, 1993). However it is estimated that there are 3.8 million people living today in BiH (Agencija za statistiku Bosne i Hercegovine, 2010). Bosnia and Herzegovina is defined by the Dayton Peace Agreement as a complex state union which consists of two entities (Republika Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina) and an independent territorial unit—the District (Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina). The entities, Republika Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, are territorial units with a certain degree of independence when it comes to the execution of legislative, judicial, and administrative government. Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina has a special political status in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- 2.
During the first 10 years of their mandate, the civil police mission significantly evolved—from “easy” questions such as training and monitoring, to “difficult” questions related to reorganization and more importantly to restructuring, which implied the redistribution of police tasks authorities from entity to state level and establishing of new institutions that necessarily led to the Dayton Peace Agreement changes (Wisler, 2007). Thus, the international civil police mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina represented a radical case of international intervention where police reform was used for changing the Dayton Peace Agreement, which is also the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- 3.
Namely, this was a process which was executed in the last year of the UN Mission mandate, and which implied the certification of police members, and afterwards the accreditation of the Ministry. This was a complex and extensive activity which implied the analysis of the Ministry on the whole. The accreditation document was given to the Minister of the Interior of Republika Srpska by the Secretary General of the UN mission Mr. Jacques Paul Klein on 1 October 2002 (Jovičić, 2008).
- 4.
The authorities of the Federal Ministry of the Interior (Federal Police Administration) are prescribed by the Law on internal affairs of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the authorities of cantonal Ministries of the Interior are prescribed by cantonal Laws on internal affairs in accordance with the federal Law on internal affairs.
- 5.
MoI RS was established on 4 April 1992 when, after the division of the MoIBiH, a part of the then Ministry started to function on the today’s Republika Srpska territory. In the meantime, a lot of new and innovated regulations were prescribed which changed the organization and systematization of the Ministry. The most significant change took place in 1998 when the Department for Security ceased to function, and its tasks and assignments were taken over by the Intelligence Agency, as an expert service outside the internal affairs body (Pena, 2006).
- 6.
Special Police Unit executes specific tasks and assignments for the purpose of securing maximum safety of citizens and their property, also providing support to regular police forces in executing police operations which fall outside the authority of their professional capacity and training. Primarily, this relates to the fight against terrorism at the tactical and operational level, dealing with hostage crises, giving assistance to the Administration for Crime Police and Public Security Centers in arresting dangerous criminals and criminal groups, especially in situations where resistance through use of firearms is expected.
- 7.
Namely, the MoI RS, according to the Law on internal affairs and Law on police officers, is in charge of education and specialized training of its employees.
- 8.
Police education in Republika Srpska has been present since the establishment of the MoI RS and has gone through a lot of organizational and institutional transformations in the last 20 years. First, in 1992 High School of Internal Affairs was established which was in charge of education and specialized training of the personnel. Then, in 1994 Center for the Education of Internal Affairs personnel was established, whose primary function was education and specialized training of the personnel for work at the Ministry through regular schooling and courses for police officers in period of 6 months. After that, in 1995 Advanced School of Internal Affairs was established, which lasted five semesters and with the completion of School students earned a degree of a law bachelor of internal affairs. Furthermore, in 1999 Police Academy was established, and in 2002 School of Internal Affairs was transformed into College for Internal Affairs. Finally, in 2002 the School Center was transformed into Administration for Police Education, which remains today. Hence, constant trend of this change was followed by a permanent improvement of basic police education activity, which today has a complete system of basic, high, specialized, and permanent police education (Šikman & Amidžić, 2011).
- 9.
College for Internal Affairs is the only high education institution of this kind in Bosnia and Herzegovina which primarily focuses on high police education. Note, only students who graduate from the College for Internal Affairs can work in police agencies in Bosnia and Herzegovina without additional education, given the fact that the School was certified by the United Nation Mission, in regard to necessary requirements for personnel education in police institutions.
- 10.
College for Internal Affairs has a good cooperation with police institutions in the region countries, including the Criminal and Police Academy in Belgrade, the State University of Internal Affairs of Lviv, Ukraine and Faculty of Security at the University Bitola in Skopje.
- 11.
Namely, it is known that those systems which have faster and more efficient flow of information are more successful at all levels and that they have better managing systems due to organized flow of information. As it became clear that timely and true information is the key to management and control for the purpose of achieving the goal, IT developed as well. This development has been most obvious in the last decade, so today literacy is associated with information literacy, i.e., today all social areas have prefix “e.” Ministry of the Interior of RepublikaSrpska, within its powers, is trying to apply contemporary technologies to all work areas.
- 12.
The ability to carry out democratic standards cannot be realized without the adoption of these standards within its own organizational structure. Democratic organizational structure is characterized by a dialog culture, free flow of information, the right and the opportunity for participation in decision-making of all those affected by these decisions, openness, and sincerity, taking responsibility for one’s own actions, establishing interpersonal relations, and solidarity and empathy. Implementation of organizational culture is a long process (Pena, 2006).
- 13.
Traditional organizational models and ways of work are not effective any more. The police are exposed to an increasing public pressure. The solution lies within a new approach of police role in society. The belief that the police are the only one who are responsible for social safety is no longer true. It is necessary to raise awareness that except the police, who are the main factor in public safety, other subjects in society are also responsible.
- 14.
Changes to the legal framework will continue to be of outmost importance so the legal work bases are in accordance with European standards and obligations under ratified international conventions. In this regard, it is necessary to develop capacities to deal with these issues, bearing in mind the obligations of harmonization with the legal EU order regarding the membership negotiations.
- 15.
Namely, the MoI RS in 2011 functioned within its legal framework and authority, in accordance with annual Work program, strategic and other planned documents, with clearly defined priorities regarding operational and other work areas, and in accordance with realistically evaluated security movements.
- 16.
With the introduction of strategy for fighting corruption, the MoI RS has undertaken important steps in realizing program activities given by the Strategic prevention of corruption in Republika Srpska.
- 17.
There is no centralized data system on the number of these companies, their capacities, business running, number of employees, etc. In this context, it would be very important to collect the mentioned data and other information as well, such as the impact of the private security sector on economy, annual revenues, and its percentage in GDP. Due to lack of data, it is unable to determine the ratio between the employees in the private security sector and the police in Republika Srpksa (Vejnović et al., 2009).
- 18.
For example, in 2011 there were 1,024 public announcements, 845 interviews were given to TV networks, NGOs, citizens, and other individuals and organizations, and 344 conferences were organized for the press (usual and special), as well as other events that were covered by the media. There were several media and TV show appearances by the Minister, Police Director, the executives of basic organizational units, and other representatives of the Ministry (MUP RS, 2012).
- 19.
Huge interest shown by the media and the citizens for this form of informing confirms the fact that on the MoI RS website in 2011 there were 220,277 visits, out of which 173,490 domestic, and 33,534 from Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, and Slovenia and other EU countries, and the USA.
- 20.
For example, in 2011 there was a continuation of work on the project “Community policing,” and public campaigns of preventive character were organized for education of children and adults about the harmful effects of misuse of pyrotechnics and illegal use of weapons during holidays, prevention of juvenile delinquency, abuse of narcotics, abuse of the Internet, prevention of peer violence, freewill blood donation, open doors and other preventive actions as well as those related to the safety of children in traffic. During the whole year there was an ongoing action which advocated that citizens, owners of registered weapons for personal protection should replace armed sheets within the legal deadline. Cooperation with the Public Relations Department was continued and with the media of the European Police Mission in BiH (EUPM) with which the Ministry organized in 2011 a public campaign called “Stronger, faster, better” and two summer campaigns “Don’t let the thief summer in your home” and “Not faster than life.” In cooperation with the TV network Republika Srpska in August there was a campaign “Let’s prevent fires” with the intent of informing the citizens about the dangers from big fires that are frequent in the summer (MUP RS, 2012).
- 21.
People in Republika Srpska, when it comes to institutions, most trust the police, the RS President, and the University. These data come from the public opinion research which was done by the Ipsos Strategic Marketing and published in “Glas Srpske.” The research was published in the period 16–21 May 2012. Sixty-three percent of people trust the police, 61 % the RS President, and 54 % the University. On the other hand, 34 % of people don’t trust the police, 30 % the University, and 38 % the President. The police and the President were given higher percentages in relation to the University, but the University has the lowest number negative marks (Gavrilović, 2012).
- 22.
So far, there have been 33 publications, including textbooks, monographs, and other publications. In addition, since 2005 the MoI RS has been publishing theoretical journal called “Security-police-citizens,” which is published twice a year.
- 23.
This implies strengthening of capacities in the fight against crime, efficient use of information technologies, as well as developing of new knowledge and skills of the employees. It is very important to obtain long-term sustainability and constant improvement of reform measures, introduced in the previous period, and apply contemporary accomplishments from theory and practice, management in public administration.
- 24.
The regulation system needs to be comprehensive, transparent, clear, and coherent and available to the public and its use needs to be unique. With the adoption of EU standards, the normative system of internal affairs needs to contain and reflect all traditional traits and historical experience, and the areas it refers to.
- 25.
The MoI RS is, in relation to other security structures, an important step forward in the fight against high-tech crime.
- 26.
Furthermore, there is a widespread understanding that the whole approach in preventing organized crime (crime strategy) implies its predicting and forecast (crime and criminology prognostics). When it comes to planning of specific preventive and repressive measures for crime prevention, it is necessary, among others, to first realistically view the volume, consequences, and the level of social danger of crime or some of its forms, and to get a real image at the national level or within international frameworks.
References
Agencija za statistiku Bosne i Hercegovine. (2010). Demografija: tematski bilten 02. Retrieved December 24, 2011 from http://www.bhas.ba/tematskibilteni/DEM_2009_002_01-sr.pdf.
Council of Europe. (2005). Organised crime situation report: Focus on the threat of economic crime. Retrieved May 15, 2012 from https://www.coe.int/t/dghl/…/economiccrime/organisedcrime/Report2005E.pdf.
European Union Police Mission [EUPM]. (2012). EU completes its police mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Retrieved May 29, 2012 from http://www.eupm.org/Detail.aspx?ID=884&TabID=1.
Gavrilović, D. (2012, May 30). Najviše vjeruju policiji, predsjedniku i univerzitetu. Glas Srpske. Retrieved May 30, 2012 from http://www.glassrpske.com/novosti/vijesti_dana/Najvise-vjeruju-policiji-predsjedniku-i-univerzitetu/lat/80558.html.
Jašareviću odgođeno suđenje zbog bolesti. (2012, October 8). Nezavisne novine. Retrieved October 8, 2012 from http://www.nezavisne.com/novosti/bih/Jasarevicu-odgodjenosudjenje-zbog-bolesti-162163.html.
Jovičić, D. (2008). Organizacija i nadležnost policije. Banja Luka: Fakultet za bezbjednost i zaštitu.
King, J. (2001). Building peace in Bosnia: Lessons learned in disarmament, demobilization, reintegration and civilian police capacity-building. International Security Research and Outreach Programme, International Security Bureau, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.
Loader, I. (2000). Plural policing and democratic governance. Social and Legal Studies, 9(3), 323–345.
Milosavljević, B. (1997). Nauka o policiji. Beograd: Policijska akademija.
Ministarstvo unutrašnjih poslova Republike Srpske [MUP RS]. (2011). Pravci razvoja Ministarstva unutrašnjih poslova Republike Srpske za period 2012–2016. godina. Banja Luka: Ministarstvo unutrašnih poslova Republike Srpske.
Ministarstvo unutrašnjih poslova Republike Srpske [MUP RS]. (2012). Izvještaj o radu Ministarstva unutrašnjih poslova Republike Srpske za 2011. godinu. Banja Luka: Ministarstvo unutrašnih poslova Republike Srpske.
Pena, U. (2006). Rad policije u zajednici i njegova implementacija sa posebnim osrtom na BiH. Banja Luka: Visoka škola unutrašnjih poslova.
Republički zavod za statistiku [RZS]. (2012). 2011 Ovo je Republika Srpska. Retrieved May 25, 2012 from http://www.rzs.rs.ba/Publikacije/RSuBrojkama/2011/Ovo%20je%20Republika%20Srpska%202011.pdf.
Šikman, M., & Amidžić, G. (2011). Development of the police education in the Republic of Srpska. In G. Milošević (Ed.), Thematic proceedings of international significance “Archibald Reiss Days” (Vol. I, pp. 109–116). Belgrade: Academy of Criminalistic and Police Studies.
Simonović, B., & Pena, U. (2010). Policing multiethnic societies. In G. Cordner, A. M. Cordner, & D. K. Das (Eds.), Urbanization, policing and security: Global perspectives (pp. 229–256). Boca Raton, London, New York: CRC Press.
Sud BiH. (2007). Presuda Suda BiH: X-KŽ-06/190—BEKTAŠEVIĆ MIRSAD I DRUGI. Retrieved May 17, 2012 from http://www.sudbih.gov.ba/?opcija=predmeti&id=24&jezik=b.
Sud BiH. (2009). Optužnica za terorizam: S1 2 K 002596 10 K—ČAUŠEVIĆ HARIS I DR. Retrieved May 17, 2012 from http://www.sudbih.gov.ba/?opcija=predmeti&id=369&jezik=b.
Tabeau, E., & Bijak, J. (2005). War-related deaths in the 1992–1995 armed conflicts in Bosnia and Herzegovina: A critique of previous estimates and recent results. European Journal of Population, 21(2–3), 187–215.
UN Security Council. (2002). Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Retrieved October 5, 2003 from http://daccess-ddsny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N02/706/20/IMG/N0270620.pdf?OpenElement.
United States Department of State, Bureau of Diplomatic Security. (2012). Bosnia-Herzegovina 2012 crime and safety report. Retrieved July 5, 2012 from https://www.osac.gov/pages/ContentReportDetails.aspx?cid=12075.
United States Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. (2010). 2009 country reports on human rights practices. Retrieved November 4, 2011 from http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2009/eur/136023.htm.
Vejnović, D., & Lalić, V. (2005). Community policing in a changing world: A case study of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Police Practice and Research, 6(4), 363–373.
Vejnović, D., Lalić, V., & Šikman, M. (2009). Private security in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In G. Cordner, A. M. Cordner, & D. K. Das (Eds.), Urbanization, policing and security: Global perspectives (pp. 389–403). Boca Raton, London, New York: CRC Press.
Wisler, D. (2007). The International Civilian Police Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina: From democratisation to nation-building. Police Practice and Research, 8(3), 253–268.
Zakon o ministarstvima i drugim organima uprave Bosne i Hercegovine. (2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009). Službeni glasnik BiH (5/03, 42/03, 26/04, 42/04, 45/06, 88/07, 35/09).
Zakon o policiji Brčko Distrikta Bosne i Hercegovine. (2009). Službeni glasnik Brčko Distrikta BiH (31/09).
Zakon o unutrašnjim poslovima FBiH. (2005). Službene novine FBiH,l (49/05).
Zakon o unutrašnjim poslovima Republike Srpske. (2012). Službeniglasnik RS,l (04/12).
Zavod za statistiku Republike Bosne i Hercegovine. (1993). Popis stanovništva, domaćinstava, stanova i poljoprivrednih gazdinstva 1991. Retrieved November 5, 2011 from http://www.fzs.ba/Dem/Popis/Etnicka%20obiljezja%20stanovnistva%20bilten%20233.pdf.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Science +Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Šikman, M., Lalić, V. (2013). A New Concept of the Police and Policing in Republika Srpska (Bosnia and Herzegovina). In: Meško, G., Fields, C., Lobnikar, B., Sotlar, A. (eds) Handbook on Policing in Central and Eastern Europe. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6720-5_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6720-5_16
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-6719-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-6720-5
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawSocial Sciences (R0)