Among the first moves of the new Minister of Internal Affairs of Republika Srpska, Siniša Karan, are the dismissals of several heads of police administrations. For the first time, a woman was appointed to this position.
New minister – new chiefs. The Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republika Srpska dismissed the chiefs of police departments of Banja Luka, Gradiška and Prijedor Miloš Brkić, Bojan Škorić and Sretoj Vujanović. In their place, he appointed Đurica Vukelić, Slobodan Torbica and Dragan Milojica. For the first time, a woman, Snežana Radivojević, was appointed chief of the Directorate of the Criminal Police of the Ministry of Interior, instead of the dismissed Darko Kovrlija. In the Police Administration, Dalibor Ivanić was dismissed, and the dismissed head of the Banja Luka Police Administration, Miloš Brkić, was appointed. The Director of the Police of Republika Srpska claims that it is not about shifts, but a natural process.
“No one has been replaced in the MIA, these are regular changes. The MIA has 6,000 police officers, the most in BiH. It’s a completely natural process, we have to make personnel passable. We have a lot of young and good managers who must get a chance,” Sinisa Kostresevic, director of the Police of the Republika Srpska.
Nikola Morača, a journalist who has been following the work of the police for many years, does not expect any changes or breakthroughs in the work of the police, especially since the dismissed chiefs are still highly positioned in the MIA of the Republika Srpska.
“I don’t expect anything from these shifts, I think that these are cosmetic changes and that they will continue as before, hiding the cases they want to hide. Publishing what is in their interest, I don’t believe it will change anything.”
The police in Republika Srpska are loyal to the ruling party and work to preserve power, not to enforce the law, claims the president of the List for Justice and Order. As an example, he cites that the former head of the Trebinje police department became an adviser to the SNSD minister in the Council of Ministers of BiH.
“Obviously, Karan removes Lukac’s people and appoints people he considers loyal to him. It is obvious that the MIA is under too much control of the ruling party and that, although they are not formally members, most of the personnel and leaders of the police departments are prominent SNSD activists without membership cards.”
Our interlocutors claim that these personnel changes “remove” people, who were appointed in the previous period by the former Minister of Police Dragan Lukač, who did not have good relations with the Director of Police Siniša Kostrešević.
