SARAJEVO, 30 May (Hina) - The police force of the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina should start functioning as of 1 July. Until that date, the organisation of police forces in the Sarajevo area would be completely changed,
representatives of the International Police Task Force (ICTF) in Sarajevo said on Thursday.
SARAJEVO, 30 May (Hina) - The police force of the Federation of
Bosnia-Herzegovina should start functioning as of 1 July. Until
that date, the organisation of police forces in the Sarajevo area
would be completely changed, representatives of the International
Police Task Force (ICTF) in Sarajevo said on Thursday. #L#
The Federation's police force will have 11,500 members. Out of
that number, 10,000 police officers will be included in cantonal
police forces, while the rest are to serve in the federal police.
There are some 20,000 civil police officers in the areas
controlled by the Bosnian army and the Croatian Defence Council
(HVO) currently. The Federation police will be wearing gray
uniforms of the county they belong to and plates with their names
on them. By October this year, they will have special cards issued
by ICTF.
ICTF commissioner Peter Fitzgerald explained guidelines on the
basis of which the reorganization of police would be carried out,
so that its standards could match those in other modern countries.
According to the guidelines, the Federation police officers
will perform public service and not state control over the
citizens. Special attention would be paid to the respect for
democratic principles, the respect for precisely set standards of
behavior, human rights and to the prevention of discrimination of
any kind.
The Federation police would not be allowed to perform military
tasks or tasks of the secret service, and all policemen will have
to take oaths and pledge that they would respect a special code of
professional ethics. Information on all police operations will be
available for the public. Women and members of national minorities
will also be included in the federal police force, in line with a
special program. Discrimination against policemen because of their
ethnic or religious background will be sanctioned.
It was still not known which functions the federal police
would have on the federal and cantonal levels, Fitzgerald said.
Special guidelines regarding the protection of borders will
also be presented. Should separate agreement be reached on that
issue, ICTF was ready to provide another 500 police officers who
would control the borders, he said.
These generally accepted international standards should also
be applied in the Serb entity. Special ICTF commissions should
control the reorganization of police forces and their functioning
both in the Federation and the Serb entity.
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