Bosnia and Herzegovina has higher police officers than the EU average

Bosnia and Herzegovina BiH has a higher number of police officers than the average number of inhabitants of the European Union in relation to the number of inhabitants. Our country has an average of one hundred more policemen per 100,000 inhabitants than the EU average. There are 438 policemen for this number of inhabitants in BiH, while there are 333 of them in the Union.

But statistical data and efficiency estimates do not show that a larger number of police officers may contribute to a better fight against crime and corruption in BiH than the European average.

Police forces across the EU are trying to increase efficiency with fewer police officers.

In BiH, an increase in the number of police officers is planned.

Armin Krzalic, a researcher at the Center for Security Studies in Sarajevo said that the current projections of the number of police officers were made several years ago, but he says that it is standard in the EU to work more on professionalism and a corporate management approach in the management of police institutions.

Abundance of police personnel does not necessarily mean a reduction in crime. By applying these methods, we can count on a reduction in crime rate and the trend of reducing the number of police officers, said Krzalic.

A more effective fight against corruption and crime is one of the conditions that BiH must meet in order to get closer to the EU. For now, the authorities are much slower in resolving objections to the organization of the police, political influences and connections with other countries in relation to plans for hiring new police officers.

The European Commission warns against this in its latest report on BiH progress. The report highlights the shortcomings of the domestic system, which is made up of 16 different police bodies with almost 17,000 police officers, by comparing the number of police officers and comparing them to the European average.

The report states that the police are not proactive in initiating investigations and that investigations are slow. It also states that the police are susceptible to political interference, and that financial investigations and confiscation of property are extremely ineffective.

The Federal Minister of Interior FBiH Aljosa Campara agrees that political influence on police work is a key issue, but doubts that there will soon be a reform and depoliticization of the police because some political forces want control over the police. We have that one decentralized police system, especially in the Federation, but also from the state level to the cantons. The work of the police structures would be much easier and more efficient if we had a centralized police structure with one hierarchical subordination from top to bottom levels, according to Campara, Detektor reports.