Mektić receives letter: Stop the privatisation of the Border Police

BiH, (Patria) - A group of police officers from the Border Police of Bosnia and Herzegovina (GPBiH) have asked the state Minister of Security, Dragan Mektić, to prevent the possible reappointment of Zoran Galić as director of the Border Police of BiH, whose four-year term is soon to expire.

In a letter addressed to Mektić, which the Patria agency also had insight into, the police officers criticise the enormous influence of the controversial head of the Office for Professional Standards of the GP, Vladimir Popović, over Galić. They warn about the privatisation of the Border Police of BiH.

This week, the Independent Board of the Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina will conduct interviews with candidates who have applied for the position of director of the Border Police of BiH. The current director of GPBiH, Zoran Galić, has also applied for the position. The Independent Board will submit the ranking list of the most successful candidates to the state Minister of Security, Dragan Mektić. The minister will select one name and propose it to the Council of Ministers for confirmation.

The group of police officers warns Minister Mektić about the decreasing professional standards in GP BiH and the increasing influence of private connections. The Border Police, they emphasise, needs new leadership.

They state that not all Border Police officers receive the same treatment from Galić and Popović. This causes dissatisfaction among GP employees. They recalled the case of border police officer Mario Cvitanović from the Doljani border crossing, who was not sanctioned after insulting the Bosniak member of the BiH Presidency, Bakir Izetbegović, on his Facebook profile.
„God and Croats,“ wrote Cvitanović at the end of his offensive comment.

 

On the other hand, the police officers recall in the same letter, the strictest accountability was sought for a border police officer from Sarajevo Airport, who wrote that „Dragan Čović is not my president.“

The police officers also write in the letter to Mektić about the president of the Border Police union, Dragan Krvavac. „He was brought to the Central Investigation Office in Sarajevo from the border crossing in Neum. For this, he is paid from the public budget for a separate life. He was given an official Border Police vehicle for use. He uses his time in Sarajevo to complete a master's degree at the Faculty of Criminalistics.“

For the police officers addressing Mektić in the letter, the awarding of police badges to Krvavac, Ivica Šebilj, and Vladimir Popović is also contentious.

Zoran Galić was appointed director of the Border Police of BiH in April 2014. Before his appointment to this position, he was the commissioner of the Ministry of Interior of the West Herzegovina Canton for seven years. He has been in police structures since 1991.