Chapter 3 - Post-conflict Policing in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Summary

In exploring the field of criminal justice, there are a number of reasons to turn first to the police. The police are likely to be the first or only point of contact between the public, whether as victim or suspect, and criminal justice agencies. Moreover, the police are the most visible element of the field: they operate amongst the public on a daily basis while clearly marked out by uniforms and other signifiers. On an institutional and conceptual level, the police are distinguished from other criminal justice agencies. The police are generally accountable to ministries of public safety, security or the interior, while courts and prisons answer to ministries of justice (Brodeur and Shearing 2005: 381). The names of these ministries suggest a conceptual distinction separating the work of police from that of courts and prisons. The police handle matters of order and security, while the courts and prisons decide upon questions of justice and enact those decisions. The concepts of security and justice are not easily reconciled, thus the police stand adrift of other criminal justice agencies. Across the next two chapters, the position of police in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is explored in relation to the specific nature of the transition in BiH, the reconstruction of the nascent Bosnian state, whose development was halted by conflict, and the development of democracy. This will involve three main stages. In the first, questions of police, state and democracy are considered, in relation to the existing literature. Following on from this, the situation in BiH at the close of the war, and in the years immediately following, is considered, locating the police in terms of legacies from Yugoslav government, the war, internal developments and shifts in the external environment in which they operate. Finally, chapter 4 handles efforts on the part of various international agencies to respond to these legacies. Some features outlined may be specific to BiH, but others will be seen to resonate with experiences in countries which have gone through periods of authoritarian rule, conflict, or both.

STATE, DEMOCRACY AND POLICE

The word police reveals a close relationship between organisation, state and government: the etymology of the word goes back to the Greek polis (πόƛις), the city state; the archaic meaning of the verb is to govern; while modern usage conveys a sense of control, regulation, order, and the maintenance of state law.