The Police Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Canton Sarajevo (CS) made an announcement regarding the articles that appeared in the media these days.
They reacted in relation to the great interest of the media and the public in general after the published information from the Security Commission of CS that ”there may be a collapse of the security system in CS”, and as a consequence that ”the Police Administration led by Police Commissioner Nusret Selimovic did not respond to the key needs of the security system of the Police Administration, such as capacitating human resources and equipping the Police Administration with the necessary material and technical means”.
”The reason why procedures for the promotion of police officers to higher ranks have not been carried out since 2019 lies in the fact that in order to initiate and carry out the procedures for the promotion of police officers to a higher rank, it was necessary to pass appropriate regulations and by-laws. The adoption of certain implementing regulations was postponed until the observed contradictions in the provisions of certain articles of the Law on Police Officers of the CS (S1. Gazette of the CS, no. 38/18 and 26/19) which, above all, referred to the elimination of collisions between Article 48 of the aforementioned Law, which prescribes the levels of access to the police authority, in relation to Article 52 of the same Law, which prescribes general conditions for candidates in the procedure for hiring police officers.
In this regard, due to the observed inconsistencies and vagueness of certain provisions of the Law on Police Officers of the CS (Official Gazette of the Canton of Sarajevo no. 38/18 and 26/19), by the decision of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the CS, a Commission was formed which had the task of preparing amendments to the Law on Police Officers of the CS.
With the adoption of the new Ordinance on the internal organization of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of CS, which is harmonized with the Laws and the Decree on the content, appearance, assignment, and removal of ranks from police officers of the Police Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of CS, obstacles have been removed, and enabled the implementation of procedures for the promotion of police officers to a higher rank in accordance with the provisions of the Ordinance on the conditions, method of scoring and procedure for the promotion of police officers of the Police Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of CS (S1. Gazette of CS No. 45/20 and 47/20).
Therefore, after the Ordinance on the internal organization of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of CS was adopted, the appointment and assignment of police officers to the positions determined by the said Ordinance was carried out, in accordance with the assigned rank and prescribed conditions for performing the duties of the specific position, after which the police commissioner issued a Decision on initiating the promotion procedure to the rank of chief inspector, independent inspector, senior inspector, inspector, senior sergeant, sergeant, and senior policeman, for which there are vacancies number: 02-30-1-5256/22 from 07/20/2022, and in July 2022 appointed two commissions for the implementation of promotion procedures. The aforementioned commissions published internal advertisements for promotion to the rank of senior police officer (October 3rd, 2022) and chief inspector (October 10th, 2022), and the implementation of the aforementioned promotion procedures are underway.
The information that as of July 2022 there is no police officer with the rank of “chief inspector” who would meet the requirements for police commissioner was submitted to the Minister of Internal Affairs a year ago by the Police Administration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of CS, document number: 02 /5-1-02-8505 dated December 30th, 2021, and then the said document was submitted to the Independent Committee and the Security Commission of the CS Assembly.
Also, the aforementioned act was initiated to arrange a simpler procedure for replacing the police commissioner, all with the aim of ensuring the smooth functioning of the police body.
Bearing in mind the above, and the fact that after obtaining the normative-legal conditions for the initiation of the promotion procedure, the police commissioner issued a Decision on the initiation of the procedure for the promotion of police officers, among others, for the rank of chief inspector, and in the aforementioned decision, he established as a priority the initiation of the aforementioned promotion procedure – it is evident that the allegations implying the police commissioner’s intention to be irreplaceable and thus endanger, in any way, the level of security achieved in CS, are unfounded.
Please note that in the earlier period, the Police Commissioner informed the Minister of Internal Affairs, the Independent Committee, and the Security Commission of the Assembly of CS in writing about all of the above and asked for an immediate response, which refers, first of all, to a systemic change in the method of assigning ranks, the method of replacing the Police Commissioner, and so on, and specifically pointed out the consequences that will inevitably follow if this reaction is absent.
The Police Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs CS and the police commissioner cannot be held responsible for the elimination of earlier collisions in legal regulations and for the dynamics of their adoption, as well as for complex public procurement processes that primarily depend on numerous external factors.
In removing these obstacles, the officers of the Police Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the CS invested and are making enormous efforts, with the aim of creating an environment for the most efficient work of the Police Department, which resulted in the execution of the primary competences of the Police Department of the CS regarding the fight against all forms of crime, and especially the strategic determination of the fight against organized crime and corruption.
In conclusion, in the light of the statements made by the chairman of the CS Security Commission, who is also the chairman of the CS Assembly, it is impossible not to ask the question: Do the claims made today confirm the media allegations that appeared in the last two days, which were about “steps already taken for the dismissal of the CS police commissioner”?
E.Dz.
