EUPM, Ministers of the Interior and BiH Police Spokespersons discuss Police Accountability

“Accountability of the local police is a very important and complex question and I am very pleased to see that you are initiating a fruitful discussion that should determine the direction and aims of your next campaign that will address relationship between citizens and the police,” said General Coppola.

“The police is now going through a transformation and adjusting itself to the new approach of work which is called community policing. The successful implementation of this new police philosophy will help in building a stronger link between the police and citizens. The relationship will directly increase the efficiency of the local police and it will also play a crucial role in crime prevention. Finally, it is an excellent tool for supervision of the police work,” said Minister Cadjo.

Minister Omerbegovic noted that: “…in order to further improve the level of cooperation and confidence between the police forces and citizens we should aim at establishing successful communication and must answer to the needs of citizens for more transparent police forces“.

Purpose of today’s workshop is to devise a strategy for the BiH LEAs that will strengthen the link between the citizens and the police and thus directly affect the level of trust that citizens in BiH have in their police force.

“I am encouraged by today’s open discussions about the need of addressing sensitive issues such as corruption in the BiH society and I am particularly pleased to have heard commitments of today’s participants to take action and fight this problem vigorously.” concluded Mr Blagovcanin of Transparency International.