Mobbing in the Border Police of BiH: Suspensions and tossing officers from one end of the country to the other

Almost two months ago, the commander of the Zvornik Border Crossing station, Ćazim Talić, who is also an independent inspector, was suspended. Patria's interlocutors from the Border Police claimed that Talić was suspended illegally. He acted, they say, according to the valid Agreement on Border Traffic between BiH and Serbia, between Zvornik and Mali Zvornik.

Talić was complained about by the local Reformist Party from Mali Zvornik for being too zealous, and Dušanka Majkić also spoke against him in the Parliament of BiH.

Talić was first fined by his superiors for an alleged disciplinary offense. Then he handed the case over to lawyers and was soon acquitted, as it turned out there was no disciplinary offense.

However, the superiors pushed the case to the Prosecutor's Office of BiH, which opened an investigation. This was enough for director Zoran Galić and his deputy Zijad Srabović to proceed further in punishing Talić. Although legal experts claim there is no legal basis for suspension, they suspended Talić.

The daily pressure on border police officers is terrible. People are separated from their families and tossed from one border crossing to another. After the media began writing about illegalities at the top of the Border Police, about fake diplomas, corruption in public procurement, an unprecedented persecution of officers began. One of those who stood up against corruption and illegalities in the Border Police is Svevlad Hoffmann, who was soon suspended from service.

Last week, a report by state auditors on public procurement in the Border Police was published. That report showed evident criminal activity in the Border Police. Hoffmann addressed the Joint Commission for Defense and Security of the Parliament of BiH with evidence that Zoran Galić could not have been elected director because he did not meet the special conditions for election.

But, one commission member reacted paradoxically to these claims, saying that Hoffmann's address would be considered only after the local elections. No one, of course, understands what local elections have to do with corruption in the Border Police. The attitude of state bodies responsible for the work of the Border Police only shows widespread corruption. Thanks to the complete political manipulation of those responsible, the functioning of one of the most important state police agencies is being called into question.

Recently, a high-ranking SDA official, also a representative in the House of Representatives of the Parliament of BiH, came for a control visit to border crossings. The officers hoped that this SDA parliamentarian would do something for their service. But nothing changed. In the meantime, it began to be publicly discussed among border police officers that the "controller" was actually arranging for a number of his "cadets" to be admitted into the Border Police.

Unfortunately, Svevlad Hoffmann is still under suspension thanks to the arbitrariness of the Border Police management, director Galić and his deputy Srabović. He is proof of what happens in this country to people who warn about corruption, while the corrupt can sleep peacefully.

The scandals continue. These days, a search is underway for suspects who are presumed to be providing information to the media about illegalities in the Border Police. Emir Dudo, a doctor of criminal sciences, has come under scrutiny. Dudo was transferred from Sarajevo to the position of commander at the Border Crossing in Foča. Our source claims that his alleged activities towards the media were falsely reported by a high-ranking inspector of the Border Police, who is in very close relations with the management structure. The power of this officer was also shown by the recent employment of her sister as a cadet in the Border Police.

The Border Police is under terrible mobbing, and this was another horrifying pointing of fingers at people who are suspended or massively thrown into jobs from one end of the country to the other. No one knows the real reasons for such decisions by Galić and Srabović. The Border Police, exposed to constant changes of workplace, is becoming unable to thoroughly control crossings and more stably protect border security.

Why such mobbing, persecution, and chaos at border crossings is unclear to anyone.