She will keep applying for jobs: Indira Karajbić has been waiting for a police officer job for six years

Twenty-nine-year-old Indira Karajbić from Zavidovići has been trying to get a job as a police officer for six years, but has not succeeded, even though she graduated from the Faculty of Criminalistics in Sarajevo in 2011 as a very successful student.

- I waited for the first competition after finishing my studies until 2014. At that time, the Ministry of Interior of the Zenica-Doboj Canton was hiring 50 police officers and ten inspectors. In the oral exam, I was among the top 20. Unfortunately, after the oral interview, they moved me back to 70th place, without explanation, and I no longer had any chance of getting a job that year – says Karajbić in an interview with the Bosnian news agency Patria.

She also applied for the competition in 2015 but was rejected due to the alleged expiration of her citizenship certificate. For the 2016 competition, when the Ministry of Interior of the Zenica-Doboj Canton hired 60 new police officers, Karajbić did not even manage to apply...

- Who will be hired by the Ministry of Interior of the Zenica-Doboj Canton is decided in oral interviews with candidates, as is done in other cantons. And, it is precisely here that the possibility of manipulation is left when accepting candidates into police ranks, without any way to prove possible illegalities. For example, in the competition I applied for in 2014, the oral interview accounted for about 25 percent of the total score, while the remaining 75 percent could be earned by the candidate on the written exam. I received the maximum number of points, or almost the maximum number of points on the written exam, reached the very top of the table, but after the oral interview, I dropped to 70th place – says Karajbić.

The problem of young criminologists was recently highlighted by members of the Association of Criminologists, Criminologists and Security Managers and the Association of the Student Council of the Faculty of Criminalistics, Criminology and Security Studies in Sarajevo. They are seeking new legal solutions that will ensure a better position for criminology students after graduation. Current legal solutions allow people with other qualifications to apply for the position of police officer.

- We emphasize that the criminal justice system plays a key role in preserving the rule of law, while the police have a crucial role in that system. Regulations in this area need to be adopted with special attention, but their implementation must also be monitored and controlled. Namely, in the proposed draft Law on Police Officers of the Sarajevo Canton, Article 52, Paragraph 1, Point c) states that one of the general conditions for employment in a police body in the rank of junior inspector is that the candidate must have at least a sixth level of education or completed the first cycle of higher education... This would mean that anyone with a completed university degree, regardless of their field, could apply for the position of police officer in the rank of junior inspector, which certainly does not meet the needs of the service, i.e., the performance of very complex and specific tasks of authorized officials for which specialist knowledge is necessary – consider the Association.

The Association reminds that statistics show that the Employment Bureau of the Sarajevo Canton records an increase in unemployed persons with qualifications as graduated criminologists, criminologists or security managers. Karajbić says the situation is no better in the Zenica-Doboj Canton.