330 cadets approved for admission to three state police agencies: But most will start working in 2027 and 2028

(Patria) - The Council of Ministers of BiH, at the proposal of the Ministry of Security, adopted at yesterday's session the Decision on determining the Plan for admitting cadets to police agencies at the level of institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2026.
In this way, it is planned to train and employ 330 cadets in the Border Police of BiH, the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA), and the Directorate for Coordination of Police Bodies of BiH.

A total of 200 cadets in the rank of police officer are planned for training and employment in the Border Police of BiH during 2027 and 2028.

The Directorate for Coordination of Police Bodies plans to admit 75 cadets, of which 70 in the rank of police officer and five in the rank of junior inspector are planned for training in 2026 and employment in 2027.

The smallest number is planned for the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA), namely 30 junior inspectors and 25 police officers for training and employment in 2026.

In recent months, the issue of police officers retiring from the three state agencies has been topical. The largest number is in the Border Police of BiH, followed by the Directorate for Coordination of Police Bodies. In 2026, 53 SIPA police officers meet the conditions for retirement. At the beginning of the year, the director of SIPA, Darko Ćulum, issued about ten retirement decisions. Some have retired, and some have filed appeals with the Police Officer Appeals Board, which was finally appointed at yesterday's session.

Although there were proposals to amend the Law on Police Officers of BiH to extend the working life of police officers to 60 years (proponents are MPs of the Trojka) or to 59 as proposed by Kemal Ademović in the House of Peoples, none of these proposals were adopted. No proposal was agreed upon with the unions, which insisted that the working life be extended to 55 years of age.

Although the need of the Border Police and the Directorate for Coordination of Police Bodies is likely even greater than the number of approved cadets, the capacity of the Agency for Training and Professional Development of Personnel in Mostar, which has a maximum capacity of 250 cadets in training simultaneously, is also a problem.