Withdrawing amendments on the Law on Police in Bosnia's Serb-dominated entity, which aimed to introduce an auxiliary police unit, is a step in the right direction, the US Embassy said for N1, on Tuesday.
“The amendments would create conditions for the formation of a reserve Republika Srpska police force. As we said before, the establishment of reserve police units in any (of Bosnia's two semi-autonomous) entity does not contribute to resolving a transnational issue, such as the migrant crisis. Only a greater degree of coordination and interoperability will contribute to a more stable and secure Bosnia and Herzegovina,” the US Embassy stressed. “On the other hand, reserve police forces would only increase tensions and lead to an escalation of distrust.”
They added that they are seeking additional information from the Serb-dominated Republika Srpska's (RS) Interior Ministry concerning the June 24 information, according to which the support units will change their name into “gendarmery,” which is defined as the military component of law enforcement institutions.
The US Embassy's statement comes after the international community's High Representative, in charge of overseeing the civilian implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement which ended the war in Bosnia, welcomed the RS’ move, saying that Bosnia's law enforcement institutions must improve the interoperability in order to improve their effectiveness in issues like the migrant crisis.
The RS Prime Minister Radovan Viskovic said, Monday, that if the RS cannot have a reserve police force, they will form a gendarmery as seen in all the countries of the region and the world.
“The United States invests millions of dollars in Bosnia and its police units that are not militarized and which are primarily in the function of protecting citizens, and those goals will continue to be our priority,” the Embassy concluded.
This March, the RS authorities said they would form an auxiliary police force of some 1,000 strong which would have the same competences ar the regular police force but would be summoned in extraordinary cases, like battling illegal migrations and severe weather conditions such as floods.
This announcement caused reactions in Bosnia's other semi-autonomous entity, the Bosniak-Croat shared Federation, where some politicians called for the formation of a similar unit.
