Permanent instability coming from the top of the Republika Srpska. Is the rule of law functioning, have we passed the exam? What are the neuralgic points? Do citizens have a justified fear of insecurity. What is the perception?
The guests of the show Answer the People were security experts: Muhamed Budimlić, Armin Kržalić, Semir Šarić and Ahmed Kico.
The government of the Republika Srpska voted to form an auxiliary police force for the Republika Srpska. Professor of criminalistics at the “Džemal Bijedić” Faculty in Mostar, Semir Šarić, says that this reminds him of the period 1991-1992, ‘during the time of the barricades and the introduction to the terrible war that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina’.
“What I can notice – from the Republika Srpska we have statements from police officials, ministers, police directors about a good security situation, that they are ready to respond to all security challenges, etc. And that in addition to such statements, in addition to such an ideal situation, the idea of forming an auxiliary police force suddenly appeared. However, by analyzing the explanation given by Minister Siniša Karan, this has raised some doubts in my mind about the real intentions of forming it,” Šarić points out.
Asked about the real intentions of forming a reserve police force in the RS, he emphasizes that ‘if Karan is short of a thousand police officers, why not announce a public competition, accept young people, educate them at the academy, have a police officer for the next 30 years’.
“All those auxiliary police officers need training. Furthermore, assistance in accidents, floods… Well, I guess in those situations it’s not the police with a hat on their heads and a gun in a holster that deals with those things, but rather the civil protection, mountain rescue service and other services are being strengthened,” explained Šarić, saying that in this case it’s about creating a parallel armed force.
“Definitely, these police officers will undergo military training, tactical training, weapons handling… And I think that’s the ultimate goal,” he believes.
Professor at the Faculty of Criminalistics, Criminology and Security Studies at UNSA Armin Kržalić believes that the reserve police force is another provocation by the President of RS, Milorad Dodik.
“It is a means, within political mobilization, because Dodik needs such approaches to mobilize the population, and such a move cannot be linked and tied to a necessary security measure. On the other hand, if we look at it from an economic aspect, the introduction and maintenance of the reserve police force, regardless of whether it is the Federation entity or the Republika Srpska entity, burdens entity budgets that are already empty. We can talk about going to the moon, but that is not realistic. So, from that aspect, we already have limited resources. This is an unjustified and politically motivated investment that does not provide a proportional return on social security,” Kržalić explained.
When it comes to the security aspect, he points out, such a decision has an impact on the perception of security.
“It causes a sense of fear among citizens, uncertainty, further ethnic polarization, ethnic division. And what is particularly worrying is the creation of a parallel structure that can operate outside standard procedures. This idea increases the risk, increases escalation, increases the possibility of incidents in the context of inter-entity relations or public protests. I think it would be far more serious for institutions, for society, to work on strengthening the capacities of state institutions, and not to work on strengthening entity institutions at the expense of state ones. And that is a problem. And instead of strengthening trust, instead of better coordination between security agencies, such measures contribute to additional fragmentation, additional concern, additional politicization of the security sector and awakening a sense of fear that takes citizens back to the 90s, which is not good at all,” Kržalić assessed.
Muhamed Budimlić, professor at the Faculty of Criminalistics, Criminology and Security Studies at UNSA, states that he is not against strengthening institutions that will be focused on solving problems.
“We have many problems in this country. One of the biggest problems is the problem of crime, which is insoluble for our institutions. However, I am afraid that this is just a political provocation. There is a big problem of crime in the FBiH and RS. The police are an institution that has the constitutional authority to detect and help in solving illegal behavior, misdemeanors and criminal acts. That is its basic purpose. If any level of government wants to strengthen the police force in the fight against illegal behavior, but taking into account the priorities that are the most harmful behaviors, I will always welcome it. However, I am not too optimistic in that direction. I think that we have many legislative and institutional problems in our country that actually lead to the fact that we are very unsuccessful against the most harmful behaviors, the most serious criminal acts,” he stated.
He said that Dodik would be better off focusing his energy on solving the murder of David Dragičević.
“He would certainly help a lot more and contribute to less fear, to greater rule of law, to make us feel safer. The government is protecting itself with these moves. What Dodik is doing in principle is aimed mostly at protecting himself,” said Budimlić.
He further states that the decision to form a reserve police force in the RS is ‘one in a series of provocations by the current RS leadership’ and that it puts greater pressure on the entity opposition than on the FBiH.
Ahmed Kico, a professor of geopolitical and security sciences, also believes that this is a provocation and an additional complication of the security and political situation in BiH.
“The opposition in the RS, through the definitive establishment of an auxiliary police force, will be constantly under surveillance, they will have ‘guardian angels’ assigned to monitor their movements. This is a real danger for these people. On the other hand, if a law is passed in the RS National Assembly and if its implementation begins, only Serbia and Hungary can provide the funds. The RS budget cannot provide these funds. It can, but only if it denies funds to everyone else”.
He says that this is a provocation of possible incidents on the contact lines between the RS entities and the Federation.
“Imagine giving an automatic weapon to a semi-educated, semi-trained man within the auxiliary unit, who in moments of weakness, relaxation, will start to shoot, thereby causing, provoking new conflicts. I ask the question, who will control, supervise these weapons that are given to the auxiliary unit? When the exercises are held, they will receive the weapons. I am not sure that they will return them immediately,” Kico said, Federalna writes.
